Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

A child under the age of 12 is treated in hospital every 48 hours for the effects of binge-drinking, new figures have shown.

Last year 181 pre-teenage children were taken to A&E departments across Britain, with some doctors reporting casualties as young as eight.

Meanwhile there were 4,441 young people between 12 and 15 years old admitted for emergency treatment and 7,766 16 to 17 year olds.

The figures were released as the British Medical Association's annual conference heard that binge-drinking among children is so prolific that small hospitals that used to treat one or two inebriated young people a month now admit several every Friday and Saturday night.

Dr Keith Brent, a paediatrician, said he sees children who have been found unconscious through drink on the street and brought to hospital by the police or ambulance service every weekend where as this would have happened only occasionally ten years ago.

The youngest child he has seen was just eight years old and was found unconscious on the street.

He said children drink cheap cider, vodka or alcopops and drink as much alcohol as they have money for, so increasing the cost of the cheapest alcohol would immediately reduce consumption.

The figures were given to Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb in a Parliamentary answer.

"This is shocking new evidence of the scale of the alcohol crisis facing this country," Mr Lamb said.

"Without a radical change to our drinking culture many young people will be condemned to serious long-term alcohol related illnesses."

The British Medical Association passed a motion at its conference calling for a complete ban on advertising and for a minimum price per unit of alcohol to be set which would increase the cost of cut price alcohol and reduce consumption.

One in four adults are drinking at levels that are hazardous to their health and 36,000 11 to 15 year olds get drunk every week, the BMA meeting in Liverpool was told.

Dr Chandra Mohan, from London, proposed the motion and said: "The estimated benefits would be a reduction of 100,000 hospital admissions per year in England alone and over a decade health savings of £1.37bn."

Dr Charles Daniels, from the BMA GP committee, spoke against the motion saying it was "nanny state politics" and would "punish the majority for the sins of the minority".

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Government has decided not to proceed with any national or local measures around minimum unit price.

"While there is good evidence that cheap alcohol is linked to people drinking more and subsequent harm to their health, it is important that any Government interventions reduce harm without impacting unduly on the majority of responsible drinkers."

The Telegraph

British doctors have called for a ban on alcohol advertising and the introduction of a minimum price to combat an increase in drink-related illnesses in Britain.

The resolution from the British Medical Association's annual conference in Liverpool will add to political pressure for more effective action to reduce chronic alcoholism and binge drinking by teenagers.

Earlier this year, the chief medical officer for England and Wales, Sir Liam Donaldson, urged the Government to adopt a minimum price of 50 pence ($A1) for each unit of alcohol. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he did not want "the responsible, sensible majority" to have to pay more "or suffer as a result of the excesses of a minority". But the Government in Scotland is planning to pioneer a minimum unit price.

Presenting the motion, Dr Chandra Mohank, from London, said alcohol-related hospital admissions across England and Wales had doubled in the decade and a recent survey had shown that 360,000 children aged between 11 and 15 "get drunk every week".

He urged clearer labelling of alcoholic strengths, a ban on alcohol advertising in the media, "and to follow the example of Scotland by introducing a minimum unit price". A 50 pence unit price would reduce hospital admissions by 100,000 a year and, over a decade, save £1.37 billion, he said.

Dr Charles Daniels, of the general practitioners' committee, called the plan "nanny-state politics". But the BMA passed it, demanding that any revenue from unit price taxes be spent on prevention and rehabilitation of abusers.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that a child under 12 is admitted to hospital casualty because of alcohol every 48 hours.

The Age

Alcopops. Ever hear of those? Not many people have heard of that term, but they are a drink that is growing in popularity among young people.

Alcopop, broken down, is "alcohol" and "pop" (as in soda pop). They are sweet alcoholic beverages that often is fizzy and has had fruit juice added to them. One can think of them as the adult version of orange soda or juice boxes you have with your lunch. Common alcopops include Mike's Hard Lemonade, Bacardi Breezers, Smirnoff Ice, and even canned drinks that are made to look like regular soda cans or cans of energy drinks. Oregon Partnership is a prevention group that is worried about these beverages being out on the market.

Portland parents, what is the big deal with these alcopops? Answer: they are clearly marketed to underage drinkers even though they are not old enough to drink. The advertisements make it look cool to drink these products. The advertisements never show older adults partaking in the beverage. Usually, the products show young people at parties that look like they are having fun or model-thin young women who look like they are sophisticated because of the product.

Another big deal about alcopops is that teen drinking is at an all-time high with dire consequences. Check out these facts from The Center for Science in the Public Interest:

* Alcohol is a factor in the four leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24: (1) motor-vehicle crashes, (2) unintentional injuries, (3) homicide, and (4) suicide
* Young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21
* Teens under 15 who have ever consumed alcohol are twice as likely to have sex as those who have not
* Underage drinking costs Americans nearly $53 billion annually
* Researchers estimate that alcohol use is implicated in one to two-thirds of sexual assault and acquaintance or "date" rape cases among teens and college students.
* More than 10 million current drinkers in the United States are between the ages of 12-20. Of these young drinkers, 20% engage in binge drinking and 6% are heavy drinkers
* Due to heavy or binge drinking, nearly one out of every five teenagers (16%) has experienced "black outs," after which they could not remember what happened the previous evening

The Examiner

Men who drink four pints of beer a week could be increasing the risk of needing hospital treatment during their lifetime, a study has suggested.

Researchers studied 5,772 Scottish men for up to 35 years.

They found those who drank between eight and 14 units a week were more likely to be admitted to hospital than those who drank fewer units or nothing.

That is the equivalent of four pints of beer, eight shots of spirits or eight small glasses of wine.

The men, from Glasgow, Clydebank and Grangemouth, were all aged between 35 to 64 when they were recruited between 1970 and 1973.

Drinkers were also likely to be kept in hospital for longer than people who drank less or abstained, according to the research by the universities of Glasgow and Bristol, which has been published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.a

The risk rose again for men who drank between 14 and 21 units, which is the government's recommended weekly maximum.

The report found that as average alcohol intake increased, the risk of being admitted to hospital and the length of stay also rose.

It concluded that the overall effects of alcohol were "substantial" and added: "Alcohol consumption has a notable effect on health service utilisation and therefore NHS costs."

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "This study confirms that people exceeding the recommended limits for alcohol are adding to the burden on the NHS through longer hospital stays.

"It is vital that government and health professionals join forces to reinforce the risks of alcohol misuse across a wide range of medical complications."

A spokeswoman for the UK government's Department of Health said alcohol abuse was one of the most challenging public health issues faced by the country.

Health campaigns

She added: "We are working harder than ever to reduce alcohol-related hospital admissions, and to help those who regularly drink too much or are dependent on alcohol.

"There are a number of public health campaigns to help people understand government guidelines around drinking alcohol. Ongoing and future campaigns will also help people to live more healthily.

"Government is consulting on a draft mandatory code for alcohol retailing, which should restrict irresponsible ways of promoting alcohol and ensure information on alcohol units and government guidelines is widely available."

Earlier this week an NHS study suggested that alcohol may have caused the death of twice as many Scots as previously thought.

Reacting to that news, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the figures showed alcohol abuse was the biggest public health challenge the country faced.

"Drinking alcohol is part of Scottish culture, but it's clear that many people are drinking too much and damaging their health in the process," she said.

"The Scottish Government has made crystal clear our determination to get to grips with it."

BBC News

Children as young as eight are being brought into hospitals unconscious after getting drunk on cheap cider, spirits and alcopops such is the ease of access to cut-price alcohol, according to doctors.

The problems of binge-drinking are now so serious that small hospitals that used to treat one intoxicated child a month are now receiving several under-age drinkers every Friday and Saturday night, the British Medical Association’s annual conference was told.

The warnings from doctors were backed today by figures suggesting that a child under 12 is being admitted to Accident & Emergency departments because of alcohol every other day. Of the more than 4,500 hospital admissions of children under the age of 16 caused by alcohol last year, 181 involved under-12s.

Reporting that drink-related problems had become “much, much greater” over the past decade, doctors called for a minimum price per unit of alcohol, clearer labelling of alcoholic content and a ban on the advertising of beers, wines and spirits.

Keith Brent, a paediatrician from Bournemouth, said that the Government’s refusal to take strong action on the most pressing of public health issues was symptomatic of an administration that “bowed down to big business”.

“The intoxicated children I see are not being brought in because they are getting drunk in pubs and bars,” Dr Brent said. “They are being found unconscious in the park and on the beach. They have £20 in their pocket and their aim is to get as drunk as possible. If you put a minimum price on a unit of alcohol, then at least you can begin to limit the amount of alcohol that can be bought.

“But what the Government is doing is what it’s done in the past with public health measures. It’s pushing it into the long grass. The things we are suggesting aren’t going to be solve all problems at a stroke, but they are likely to be helpful and anything that’s helpful should be tried.”

Dr Brent said that he used to see cases of children intoxicated by alcohol “very occasionally”, but now saw children every weekend. “It is very sad. I now have to start my ward rounds by working out how many intoxicated youngsters we’ve got in.”

The latest A&E figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, reveal that there have been 1,426 admissions for children under 12 due to alcohol since 2002. Last year there were 4,441 emergency hospital admissions of young people aged 12 to 15 and 7,766 admissions of 16 and 17-year olds due to alcohol — rises on 2002 figures of 12 per cent and 66 per cent respectively.

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said the figures were “shocking new evidence of the scale of the alcohol crisis facing this country”.

“The Government cannot continue to ignore the fact that thousands of children are drinking so much that they end up in A&E,” he said.

“Unless we invest in treatment services, put an end to alcohol being sold at pocket-money prices and start educating our children then these figures are only set to get worse.”

Last year the Department of Health commissioned the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) from the University of Sheffield to carry out an independent review of the evidence on the effects of the pricing and promotion of alcohol. It concluded that pricing and availability were the two greatest levers to controlling consumption.

In March Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, warned that easy access to cheap alcohol was “killing us as never before” and must be curbed with tough licensing laws and a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol. But the Prime Minister, who issued a rebuttal to Sir Liam’s report in advance of its publication, said that he did not want to impose additional burdens on the majority, who were “moderate” drinkers.

Proposing the BMA motion to control the nation’s drinking habits, Chandra Mohan, from London, said yesterday that the Government had to stop making excuses for inaction and follow moves in Scotland to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol. He said research showed there could be a cut of 100,000 hospital admissions every year in England if minimum pricing was introduced. Over a decade, health savings would be £1.37 billion.

“It is time for us to say enough is enough,” Dr Mohan said. “Alcohol excess affects every part of our society; young professionals; harassed parents; lonely elderly people; children. We need to send out a clear message that this is not acceptable.”

Dr Charles Daniels, from the BMA’s GPs committee, spoke against the motion, saying it was “nanny state politics” and would “punish the majority for the sins of the minority”.

A recent report by the NHS Information Centre showed that a quarter of adults are drinking in quantities that are hazardous to their health, with more than 850,000 people needing hospital treatment for alcohol-related problems in a year.

The number of people admitted to hospital in England with alcohol-related problems has risen by 69 per cent in five years, to 863,000 in 2007-08, although changes to data collection — which now include secondary diagnoses, such as alcohol-related injuries — have contributed to the surge in cases. Two thirds of the admissions were men.

The cost to the NHS of supplying drugs for the treatment of alcohol dependency is £2.4 million, up 39 per cent on 2003.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that the Government had decided not to proceed with any national or local measures around minimum unit price.

“While there is good evidence that cheap alcohol is linked to people drinking more and subsequent harm to their health, it is important that any Government interventions reduce harm without impacting unduly on the majority of responsible drinkers. We will look to develop further the evidence base in this area.”

The Times

One in four young drinkers consume dangerous quantities of alcohol every week, but the number of underage drinkers is falling, a poll shows.

A survey of 13,000 young people by the Trading Standards Institute found the number of teenagers who drink weekly fell from 50% in 2005 to 38% this year.

But of these, a quarter are drinking more than 20 units a week - equivalent to about 10 pints of beer.

One in 20 of these drinkers also drink alone, the research found.

The most popular drinks remained vodka-based alcopops, but cider is also making a comeback - increasing significantly in popularity since 2005.

Trading Standards North West, which carried out the poll, said it intended to write to the firms behind these drinks to "seek clarification of the plans for action to reduce their appeal to young people".

The majority of young people said they obtained their alcohol from relatives and friends over the age of 18.

Regrettable sex

Guidelines suggest men should drink no more than 21 units per week and women no more than 14.

While a quarter of drinkers claimed to regularly binge drink, this number was down slightly from the previous survey.

A higher proportion of males claimed they never drink or never binge drink than females.

Other findings included one in six regretting having sex after drinking.

Dr Ruth Hussey, regional director of Public Health, said: "The amount of alcohol consumed by some teenagers is of great concern.

"Not only does it pose a significant threat to their health, it puts them at greater risk of violence and unplanned pregnancy."

David Poley, head of drinks producers group the Portman Group, said: "There are strict rules to prevent drinks companies targeting under-18s through their marketing.

"The Advertising Standards Authority controls advertising and the Portman Group regulates all other forms of drinks producer marketing. There are independent complaints systems which Trading Standards should use if they have specific concerns about any brand."

• Drinking just four pints of beer a week could raise the risk of a person needing hospital treatment during their lifetime, according to research from the universities of Glasgow and Bristol.

The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health study found men who drank between eight and 14 units of alcohol a week - equivalent to four pints, eight shots of spirits or eight small glasses of wine - were more likely to be admitted to hospital than those who drank fewer units or none at all.

The group was also likely to be kept in hospital for longer than people who drank less or abstained.

BBC News

Action on Addiction uncovers high levels of parental substance misuse

Up to one-third of children in the UK live with at least one parent who binge-drinks, according to a study by charity Action on Addiction published today.

One million children live with an adult who has used illicit drugs within the past year, while 4% live in households where parents have both drink and mental health problems.

The study, revealing the highest known estimates of parental substance misuse in the UK, also shows that 3% of children in England alone live with a problem drinker who uses drugs.
Article continues below the advertisement

Researchers compiled the figures based on secondary analysis of 5 household surveys.

Nick Barton, chief executive of Action on Addiction, said: "This new piece of research shows that more children are at risk than we had previously though and that potential harm is not limited to new users."

Action on Addiction is providing a service aimed at supporting families experiencing the effects of parental substance misuse. Professionals will run assessments and reviews for up to eight families at any one time to help reduce the impact of abuse.

The latest findings follow a Home-Office funded study earlier this year that found newly-qualified social workers felt inadequately prepared to work with people with substance misuse problems.

Community Care

W's story

W had his first drink at 16 following a difficult childhood, during which he endured isolation, bullying and abuse.

After a suicide attempt at the age of 14 he started playing truant and hanging around with "bad kids".

He said: "Both my parents are teachers, so playing truant gave me status – people accepted me."

W left school at 16 and got into agricultural work. He spent his first wage packet on getting drunk with his workmates.

He said: "We got some cans of lager and cider and went to the park. I drank to 'blackout' – the stage where you're still functioning, but can't remember anything.

"It was my first drink and I drank like an alcoholic."

He continued: "For the next 26 years I absolutely loved my alcohol. Suddenly I had courage and a personality that people liked.

"All my worries disappeared and I felt happy."

W says he couldn't wait for the next chance to get drunk – it was all he could think about. It became an "absolute obsession" for him, with his mind and body craving alcohol.

He drank to blackout for many years and depression continued to be a major problem. About 10 years ago, W suffered a serious breakdown, but his response was not what you might expect.

He said: "I was elated! I didn't have to go to work and I could get drunk mid-week. I celebrated by going on a bender which lasted about 10 days.

"But when I tried to go back to weekend drinking, the week was so hard."

W says that during this time he did not realise that alcohol was the problem. He just saw it as a way to "escape the turmoil" in his mind and body.

He said: "If I was hankering for a drink I could derive no pleasure from anything – even my kids.

"I love them to pieces, but my thoughts would be elsewhere. If we were having a day out I would be thinking 'let the day be over so I can have a drink'."

W realised he had a problem when he went to Manchester to help out a friend, but struggled to stay sober for the week.

He had also started to become ill, suffering with kidney problems.

He said: "I went to a counsellor and was told I wasn't an alcoholic – but I hadn't told them how much I drank.

"I thought an alcoholic was a man on a park bench asking for change. I realise now that's where I was heading."

W also started to worry about what he had done and how he had acted when he was drunk, as he couldn't remember anything.

He recalls the last time he drank to blackout and the feelings of guilt and shame which ensued.

W said: "I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. At that moment I said to myself 'I'm an alcoholic'."

Two days later he went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, not knowing what to expect.

He said: "All I knew about it was what I'd seen in films. I didn't want to be there, but I was desperate."

W was worried that it would be a religious programme, as people sometimes used to word "God" during the meeting.

But he realised that it was used in a spiritual sense to talk about a higher being, and that the programme is not attached to any particular religion.

W said: "The welcome I got was very special. People came up and spoke to me and there was an immense warmth within the group.

"Everyone was treated as equal, which was a big surprise for me."

He went on to live from meeting to meeting, the first week being an "absolute nightmare", but W's feeling of pride at the end of that week was immense.

As days became weeks, and weeks became months, W's life began to turn a corner.

He said: "Little miracles started happening. I would go out for a walk and really enjoy it. I would start to enjoy things that have nothing to do with alcohol.

"There was a magic in my life, a feeling of calm. I've stopped dreaming because my life has become a dream."

W, now 42, says the support he has received from AA has saved his life. Things have turned around so much that his partner recently asked him to marry her.

W, who has not had a drink for over six months, said: "I've given up one thing and in return I've got a life, and it just keeps getting better and better.

"If reading this brings just one person into the fellowship, and they get one tenth of what I've had, they're in for the ride of their life.

"I'm proof that fairytales can come true."

T's story....

To an outsider, T seemed to have the perfect life. He had a wife and children, was running his own business and had a lovely home and two cars.

But still, his drinking problem continued to escalate.

He said: "I couldn't handle the VAT returns, solicitors fees ... I was in a mess. I had to sell the cars as I'd got into serious trouble with the building society."

When he was 32, T's wife left him, taking his sons with her. They had tried counselling, during which it was suggested to T that he may have a drinking problem.

He said: "That made me start thinking about it. I went to the doctor for a well man test and I was told that my liver was showing early signs of deterioration.

"But I just carried on drinking."

Finding it hard to stay in what used to be the family home, T went to work in Southern Ireland in a bid to start afresh.

But he says he came back in a worse state than ever.

Arriving at Leeds Train Station, T had no idea where to go. It was 5am and seeing a bus destined for Scarborough, he decided to get on.

T stayed in a B&B and got a job as an electrician, but colleagues started to notice he smelt of drink every morning.

He got sacked from a couple of jobs and ended up in and out of Scarborough Hospital, sometimes for up to six weeks at a time.

Everything came to a head when T was supposed to be meeting his three sons in Whitby for a Father's Day meal.

That day, T had been drinking from 6am. He went to the Lord Rosebery at opening time and stayed there all day, before getting on a bus to Whitby at 3pm.

He carried on drinking until he met his children at 8pm.

T said: "I remember I just berated my youngest son. I can still see the tears rolling down his face.

"My middle son, who was 21 at the time, said 'Dad, just get back to Scarborough'. I just gave him a tirade of abuse."

When T woke up the next morning, he realised something had to change.

He said: "I realised I couldn't do it anymore. Despite the houses I'd lost, the jobs I'd lost and the lies I'd told, this was what had brought it home.

"I went to the doctor and said 'I think I've got a problem'."

T went for counselling at the Cambridge Centre in Scarborough and his counsellor recommended going to an AA meeting.

T said: "I told her I wasn't an alcoholic, and she said just try it.

"I had thought that when my money ran out I'd stop drinking, but it got to the point where I was stealing cans and bottles of vodka in Tesco."

After walking past Westborough Church a number of times and thinking about going in to a meeting, T finally decided to take the plunge.

He said: "It's the best thing I've ever done. That was on July 14, 2008, and I haven't had a drink since."

T says without AA and the support of his GP, Scarborough Hospital and the Cambridge Centre, he would probably not be alive today.

He said: "I can't express my gratitude enough. I never thought I'd be able to stop drinking for 10 months.

"I needed alcohol to get through my life in certain situations. Some people go for a run or have a game of squash – but I drank to overcome my emotions and things that were going wrong.

"I've had some lovely jobs but I've never really felt part of anything before. AA is so friendly – it's just a wonderful fellowship and if reading this encourages just one person to seek help, I would be happy."

Scarborough Evening News

Alcohol may have caused the death of twice as many Scots as previously thought, an NHS study has found.

Researchers used a new method of calculating alcohol-related deaths which is said to more accurately reflect the damage done by drinking.

They estimated that 2,882 deaths - one in every 20 - could be attributed to alcohol in 2003.

More than a quarter of deaths in men aged between 35-44 were caused by alcohol, the study found.

The deaths of a fifth of women in the same age group were also attributable to alcohol.

The NHS Scotland research team used data compiled during the Scottish Health Survey of 2003 for their analysis.

They identified 53 different causes of death, ranging from stomach cancer and strokes to assaults and road deaths, in which alcohol played a part.

Jack Law, the chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland said: "It is particularly concerning to note that over 1000 Scots under the age of 55 died because of alcohol.

"The evidence shows that the most effective way to reduce consumption, and consequently harm, is to increase the price of alcohol.

"Introducing a minimum price per unit of alcohol would increase the price of the cheapest, most harmful drinks which appeal to heavier drinkers e.g. strong white ciders and cheap spirits.

"Minimum pricing would save lives as well as saving the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds in NHS, crime and employment costs."

Similar studies have already been carried out in countries including England, the US, Canada and Australia, but the method has never been used before in Scotland.

Previously, official figures only counted the more obvious "wholly-attributable" categories of death, such as alcoholic liver disease.

The study estimated that one in ten men and one in 20 women were admitted to hospital for alcohol-related conditions, which the researchers said placed a "considerable burden" on the health service.

Deaths caused by alcohol were proportionately higher in younger people, who tended to die from acute consequences such as injury, whereas older people were more likely to die from illness or disease.

Men were more likely than women overall to die an alcohol attributable death, while cancer accounted for just over a fifth of all alcohol attributable deaths.

However, the report also estimated that low levels of alcohol consumption actually protected nearly 1,500 people from deaths caused by conditions such as coronary heart disease.

Chronic conditions

But it warned that drinking even small amounts still increases the risk of contracting cancer and other chronic conditions.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the figures showed that alcohol was killing one Scot every three hours on average, and proved alcohol abuse was the biggest public health challenge the country faced.

She added: "This research shows that alcohol misuse is taking an even higher toll on Scotland's health than previously thought.

"To have one in 20 Scots dying from alcohol-related causes is a truly shocking statistic. Drinking alcohol is part of Scottish culture, but it's clear that many people are drinking too much and damaging their health in the process.

"The Scottish Government has made crystal clear our determination to get to grips with it."

Kate Macaulay, of nursing union RCN Scotland, said the statistics highlighted the need to take "urgent action" to reduce rates of alcohol consumption in Scotland.

"We welcome the measures that the Scottish Government is proposing to reduce excessive consumption if they result in lower levels of alcohol misuse and better public health," she added.

"All of the practical measures that are being put forward by the Scottish Government must be matched by educational and health promotional work from the earliest ages right through to older adults if we are genuinely going to tackle this growing health time bomb."

BBC News

Finding could spawn novel ways to treat alcoholism, epilepsy

A team of researchers, with Nepali-born Prafulla Aryal as key member, of the Salk Institute of Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California, has located the alcohol-binding site in the brain that could pave the way to a whole new approach to treating alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse-related brain diseases, and epilepsy.

Aryal was born in Jayabageshwari, Kathmandu in 1981 and did his schooling until the fifth grade at Siddhartha Banasthali School. He migrated to the United States in 1991 and is now a US citizen. After receiving undergraduate education from the University of Colorado-Boulder, he joined the PhD program at the University of California-San Diego in 2003. Now a permanent resident of Denver, Colorado, Aryal´s role was instrumental to the finding.

After zeroing in on a potential alcohol-binding site in the brain, Aryal systematically introduced amino acid substitutions to the site to deny alcohol molecules access to the site. After he introduced the substitution, alcohol no longer had its effect, thus confirming that it was indeed the alcohol-binding site in the brain.

The binding-site is not only responsible for the brain´s response to alcohol, but also to epileptic seizures.

The finding by Aryal and his team, published by the Science Daily on Tuesday, is the closest that scientists have reached in understanding how alcohol affects the brain.

With the finding, “it may be possible to develop a drug that antagonizes the actions of alcohol for the treatment of alcohol dependence,” said the Institute in a statement.

Alternatively, if scientists could find a novel drug that fits the alcohol-binding site, this would dampen overall neuronal excitability in the brain and perhaps provide a new tool for treating epilepsy too, the team´s leader Dr Paul A Slesinger, associate professor in the Peptide Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, said in the statement.

In an e-mail to myrepublica.com, Aryal said he had been working on the study at Dr Slesinger´s lab at the Salk Institute for the past four years, as part of his thesis work in the field of neuroscience.

“This work shows, for the first time, a direct binding site for alcohol in a protein involved in alcohol´s action in the brain. This is a very novel and significant finding in the field of alcohol research and neuroscience,” Aryal wrote to myrepublica.com in an e-mail.

He further wrote that the finding was significant in that it sheds light on how exactly alcohol acts on the brain to alter its function. “I think, it is a great advancement in our knowledge about alcohol and for scientists that originated from Nepal,” Aryal wrote.

Other members of the research team are Dr Senyon Choe, a professor in the Structural Biology Laboratory, and Dr Hay Dvir, a postdoctoral researcher in Choe´s lab.

This work was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and on General Medical Sciences, the HN & Frances Berger Foundation and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

The Salk Institute, a not-for-profit organization, was founded by Dr Jonas Salk, who discovered the Polio vaccine and chose to distribute it throughout the world, without proprietary concern, to eradicate the disease.

My Republica