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Resilience to Meet the Challenge of Addiction: Psychobiology and Clinical Considerations
Evidence from different disciplines suggests that acute and chronic stress–related mechanisms play an important role in both the development and the chronic, relapsing nature of addiction (Baumeister 2003; Baumeister et al. 1994; Brady and Sinha 2005). Stress is defined as the physiological and psychological process resulting from a challenge to homeostasis by any real or perceived demand on the...
Discovering Genes Involved in Alcohol Dependence and Other Alcohol Responses
A host of biological (i.e., genetic) and environmental factors interact throughout the addictive process to influence alcohol use and abuse. These processes are accompanied by a number of behavioral and neural events that include, but are not limited to, changes in the motivational effects of ethanol (both rewarding and aversive), tolerance to some effects of ethanol, and withdrawal when ethanol...
Uniting Epidemiology and Experimental Disease Models for Alcohol-Related Pancreatic Disease
Effects of Binge Drinking on the Developing Brain
Epigenetics—New Frontier for Alcohol Research - Editor's Note
The term “epigenetics” is rapidly becoming one of the more important watchwords in the field of alcohol research. Put simply, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene function that occur without a change in the body’s genetic code, instead relying on epigenetic markers on, among others, the DNA and certain nuclear proteins to turn genes “on” and “off.” Epigenetic changes also are brought about...
Bridging Animal and Human Models: Translating From (and to) Animal Genetics
Alcoholism is a complex disorder arising from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM–IV) (American Psychiatric Association 1994) requires that three of seven criteria be present during a 12-month period for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence. These criteria are tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, loss of control...
Clinical Laboratory Stressors Used to Study Alcohol–Stress Relationships
A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between stress and alcohol use is important for understanding the risks of developing alcohol problems and subsequent relapse. Although the relationship is complex, substantial evidence supports that exposure to chronic stress early in life (e.g., Sher et al. 1997), adult trauma (Kessler et al. 1995), and the presence of anxiety disorders (Grant et...