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Reducing Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and the Incidence of FASD: Is the Past Prologue?

Introduction

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is linked to miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, sudden infant death syndrome, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).1 Although PAE is the sole necessary cause of FASD, the etiology of this leading preventable cause of disability is multifaceted and complex, including lifestyle, maternal, sociodemographic, social, gestational, and genetic...

Enhancing the Use of Vehicle Alcohol Interlocks With Emerging Technology

Among the earliest applications of health technologies to a safety program was the development of blood alcohol content (BAC) tests for use in impaired-driving enforcement. This led to the development of miniature, highly accurate devices that officers could carry in their pockets. A natural extension of this technology was the vehicle alcohol interlock, which is used to reduce recidivism among...

Influence of Social Media on Alcohol Use in Adolescents and Young Adults

Participation in online social media Web sites (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) has skyrocketed in recent years and created a new environment in which adolescents and young adults may be exposed to and influenced by alcohol-related content. Thus, young people are exposed to and display pro-alcohol messages and images through online portrayals of drinking on personal pages as well as unregulated...

Community Indicators: Assessing the Impact of Alcohol Use on Communities

In the United States and other countries around the world, researchers have long been interested in community-level measurement of population health in the form of community indicators. Community indicators are measures that communicate information about a given dimension of a community’s well-being (Besleme and Mullin 1997). In the United States, the current popularity of community indicators can...

ARCR Editorial Staff

NIAAA/NIH Staff

Pamela Wernett, Ph.D., P.M.P.
Editor in Chief and Contracting Officer’s Representative

Pamela joined ARCR in 2018 as an Associate Editor and advanced to Editor in Chief for the journal in 2021. She has managed the journal contract with IQ Solutions as the Contracting Officer’s Representative since 2020. Pamela also serves as a Senior Health Science Policy Analyst within NIAAA’s...

Social and Cultural Contexts of Alcohol Use: Influences in a Social–Ecological Framework

The alcohol research literature is overwhelmingly focused on risk factors, from the societal level down to the individual. Worldwide, 3.3 million deaths were attributed to alcohol misuse in 2012 (World Health Organization 2014). Excessive alcohol use is the third leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 88,000 deaths per year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014)...

Drinking Patterns and Their Definitions

The number of drinks a person consumes and the rate at which he or she consumes them influence how much alcohol enters the brain and how impaired that person becomes. Many people are surprised to learn what counts as a drink. The amount of liquid in one’s glass, can, or bottle does not necessarily match up to how much alcohol is in the drink. To facilitate research and clinical care and to help...

Cognitive Neuroscience Approaches to Understanding Behavior Change in Alcohol Use Disorder Treatments

Understanding the mechanisms that underlie recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) is critical to advancing AUD treatment science (Huebner and Tonigan 2007; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA] 2009). Scientific progress over the last three decades has led to the development of a number of effective behavioral and pharmacological AUD interventions (Dutra et al. 2008)...

Alcohol Research and eHealth Technology - Editor's Note

The rapid advance of electronic technology holds the promise for revolutionary improvements in conducting research on alcohol use disorders as well as innovative methods for prevention and treatment. This issue of Alcohol Research: Current Reviews reports on the state of the science and future directions in electronic health (eHealth) technologies and their potential impact on alcohol epidemiology...

APIS: The NIAAA Alcohol Policy Information System

The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) is an NIAAA-sponsored Web site that provides detailed information on alcohol-related public policies at both the State and Federal levels. Updated annually, the APIS information can be used to identify policy changes in 33 policy areas. Up to two-thirds of these policies can be tracked back to 1998, and data on the remaining one-third are available...