Description
Springer Recent Developments in Alcoholism Volume 3 1st Editon 2012 Softbound by Marc Galanter
From the President of the Research Society on Alcoholism Alcohol research has entered an era of growth which brings enhanced opti mism regarding the elucidation of the biochemical and psychosocial factors which combine to produce the phenomena of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The solidification of knowledge regarding the genetic determinants of certain alcohol-related problems puts on firm footing the biological approaches for developing solutions to these problems. The current volume of Recent Devel opments in Alcoholism contains an excellent blend of information both on stud ies assessing the behavioral and physiological variables which may be ge netically linked to an individual's risk of developing problems with alcohol, and on clinical and basic science investigations of the pathological conse quences of excessive ethanol ingestion. Further progress in the alcoholism research area will continue to require investigation of the interactions of en vironmental variables with the genetically determined biology of an individ ual. Novel techniques in the fields of molecular genetics, physical chemistry, and behavioral pharmacology are being brought to bear on the central issues in the field, and the addition of these tools to the science of alcohol research brings closer the prospect of fruitful clinical application of our basic knowl edge. The Research Society on Alcoholism remains devoted to the task of promoting the generation of knowledge regarding the actions of alcohol and the mechanisms which produce alcohol abuse and alcoholism. I. High-Risk Studies of Alcoholism.- Overview.- 1 Behavioral Effects of Alcohol in Sons of Alcoholics.- 2 The EEG in Persons at Risk for Alcoholism.- 3 Psychopathology in Adopted-Out Children of Alcoholics: The Stockholm Adoption Study.- 4 Premorbid Assessment of Young Men at High Risk for Alcoholism.- 5 Minimal Brain Dysfunction and Neuropsychological Test Performance in Offspring of Alcoholics.- II. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes, and Alcohol.- Overview.- 6 Synthesis of Prostaglandins and Leukotrienes: Effects of Ethanol.- 7 Biochemical Interactions of Ethanol with the Arachidonic Acid Cascade.- 8 Brain Arachidonic Acid Metabolites: Functions and Interactions with Ethanol.- III. Cardiovascular Effects of Alcohol Abuse.- Overview.- 9 Alcohol, Coronary Heart Disease, and Total Mortality.- 10 Alcohol Consumption and Cardiovascular Risk Factors.- 11 Myocardial Effects of Alcohol Abuse: Clinical and Physiologic Consequences.- 12 Biochemical Mechanisms Responsible for Alcohol-Associated Myocardiopathy.- IV. Cerebral Functioning in Social Drinkers.- Overview.- 13 The Continuity Hypothesis: The Relationship of Long-Term Alcoholism to the Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome1.- 14 The Impact of Fathers’ Drinking on Cognitive Loss among Social Drinkers.- 15 Alcohol Use and Cognitive Functioning in Men and Women College Students.- 16 CT Demonstration of the Early Effects of Alcohol on the Brain.- 17 Cognitive Deficits and Morphological Cerebral Changes in a Random Sample of Social Drinkers.- 18 Brain Damage in Social Drinkers? Reasons for Caution.- 19 Statistical Issues for Research on Social Drinkers.- 20 Functional Brain Imaging.