Discoblog » ethanol

NCBI ROFL: Superbowl special: 5 funny football-related studies!

ncbi rofl — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:18 +0000

1. Sports fans who tailgate are more likely to get drunk.
”Our findings suggest that a significant number of attendees at professional sporting events may have elevated BAC levels, particularly young adults and those who participated in tailgating activities. ”

2. Sport fan identification in obituaries.
“To assess whether sport involvement, particularly as a fan, is central enough to one’s self-concept to be mentioned in obituary content, it was hypothesized that a greater proportion of men’s obituaries than women’s would mention the deceased individual’s sport fan identification.”

3. Choose wisely, rooting for the winning team DOES make you more manly.
“In both studies, mean testosterone level increased in the fans of winning teams and decreased in the fans of losing teams. These findings suggest that watching one’s heroes win or lose has physiological consequences that extend beyond changes in mood and self-esteem.”

4. The “Fan Can”: innocent football fan fun, or menace to sober society?
“Participants were exposed to images of beer in either a standard can or a can featuring the colors of their university (i.e., ‘fan cans’). We hypothesized that exposure to fan cans would change ...

NCBI ROFL: Naturalistic observations of beer drinking among college students.

ncbi rofl — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:49:30 +0000

“We observed the beer drinking behavior of 308 university students in several bar and party settings. The following relationships were found: males drinking beer in bars consumed 0.92 oz per min; females drank less beer than males, and stayed in a bar for a longer time period; patrons drank significantly more beer when drinking in groups and when purchasing beer in pitchers versus cups or bottles; and intervals between party arrival and first drink and between party departure and last drink varied inversely with blood alcohol concentration. We discuss these findings with regard to developing interventions to prevent alcohol-impaired driving.”

Photo: Flickr/.A.A.

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NCBI ROFL: On why I drink so much.

ncbi rofl — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:00:29 +0000

Alcohol selectively impairs negative self-relevant associations in young drinkers.

“The stress-dampening effects of alcohol have been attributed to ‘appraisal disruption’- decreased ability of stimuli to evoke threatening associations in memory. Appraisal disruption could apply to oneself as well as situational stimuli. This question was investigated in undergraduate drinkers (n = 90/Gender) with low or high anxiety sensitivity (AS; n = 90/AS Group), a trait linked with hyper-vigilance to threat. Subjects received alcohol (0.7 g/kg males; 0.63 g/kg females), placebo or soft drink and performed a speech about their appearance. Sequence of drink administration and speech advisory (threat) was manipulated between subjects: Threat before Drink, Threat after Drink, No-Threat Control. The Implicit Association Test measured self-relevant associations based upon time to classify positive and negative attribute words (e.g. Cute, Ugly) paired with self-relevant or non-self-relevant object words (e.g. Me, Them). Alcohol selectively slowed negative self-relevant decisions, regardless of other factors. Relative fluency of negative versus positive decisions (D) correlated inversely with state anxiety and systolic blood pressure immediately before speech performance, and correlated directly with severity of alcohol problems. These findings are consistent with the Appraisal Disruption hypothesis. Preferential impairment of negative self-relevant associations may decrease ...

NCBI ROFL: Beer goggles explained!

ncbi rofl — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:00:49 +0000

It’s booze week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring articles about ethanol, ethyl alcohol, and even CH3CH2OH. Enjoy!

An explanation for enhanced perceptions of attractiveness after alcohol consumption.

“Acute alcohol consumption increases ratings of attractiveness to faces. This may help to explain increased frequencies of sexual encounters during periods of alcohol intoxication. At least in part, such increased attraction may be the result of alcohol consumption decreasing ability to detect bilateral asymmetry, presumably because of the reductions in the levels of visual function. We tested the hypotheses that acute alcohol consumption decreases ability to detect asymmetry in faces and reduces preference for symmetrical faces over asymmetrical faces. Twenty images of a pair of faces and then 20 images of a single face were displayed on a computer, one at a time. Participants were instructed to state which face of each of the face pairs displayed was most attractive and then whether the single face being displayed was symmetrical or not. Data were collected near campus bars at Roehampton University. Sixty-four self-selecting students who undertook the study were classified as either sober (control) or intoxicated with ...

NCBI ROFL: Dear Lord, please give me a drink.

ncbi rofl — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:00:14 +0000

It’s booze week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring articles about ethanol, ethyl alcohol, and even CH3CH2OH. Enjoy!

Invocations and intoxication: does prayer decrease alcohol consumption?

“Four methodologically diverse studies (N = 1,758) show that prayer frequency and alcohol consumption are negatively related. In Study 1 (n = 824), we used a cross-sectional design and found that higher prayer frequency was related to lower alcohol consumption and problematic drinking behavior. Study 2 (n = 702) used a longitudinal design and found that more frequent prayer at Time 1 predicted less alcohol consumption and problematic drinking behavior at Time 2, and this relationship held when controlling for baseline levels of drinking and prayer. In Study 3 (n = 117), we used an experimental design to test for a causal relationship between prayer frequency and alcohol consumption. Participants assigned to pray every day (either an undirected prayer or a prayer for a relationship partner) for 4 weeks drank about half as much alcohol at the conclusion of the study as control participants. Study 4 (n = 115) replicated the findings of Study 3, as prayer again reduced drinking by about half. ...

NCBI ROFL: The Big, the Bad, and the Boozed-Up.

ncbi rofl — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:00:04 +0000

It’s booze week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring articles about ethanol, ethyl alcohol, and even CH3CH2OH. Enjoy!

The Big, the Bad, and the Boozed-Up: Weight Moderates the Effect of Alcohol on Aggression.

“Most people avoid the “big, drunk guy” in bars because they don’t want to get assaulted. Is this stereotype supported by empirical evidence? Unfortunately, no scientific work has investigated this topic. Based on the recalibrational theory of anger and embodied cognition theory, we predicted that heavier men would behave the most aggressively when intoxicated. In two independent experiments (Ns= 553 and 327, respectively), participants consumed either alcohol or placebo beverages and then completed an aggression task in which they could administer painful electric shocks to a fictitious opponent. Both experiments showed that weight interacted with alcohol and gender to predict the highest amount of aggression among intoxicated heavy men. The results suggest that an embodied cognition approach is useful in understanding intoxicated aggression. Apparently there is a kernel of truth in the stereotype of the “big, drunk, aggressive guy.”"

Photo: flickr/ peretzp

NCBI ROFL: The “Fan Can”: innocent football fan fun, or menace to sober society?

ncbi rofl — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:00:22 +0000

It’s booze week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring articles about ethanol, ethyl alcohol, and even CH3CH2OH. Enjoy!

The Color of Safety: Ingroup Associated Colors make Beer Safer.

“Individuals display high levels of trust and express feelings of safety when interacting with social ingroup members. Here, we investigated whether cues related to ingroup membership would change perceptions of the safety of alcohol. Participants were exposed to images of beer in either a standard can or a can featuring the colors of their university (i.e., ‘fan cans’). We hypothesized that exposure to fan cans would change perceptions of the risks of beer drinking. Results showed that participants exposed to fan cans rated beer consumption as less dangerous (Experiment 1), were more likely to automatically activate safety-related mental content after unconscious perception of beer cues (Experiment 2), and viewed their ingroup’s party practices as less dangerous (Experiment 3). These results provide evidence that ingroup-associated colors can serve as a safety cue for alcohol, which may in theory perpetuate alcohol-related risk-taking, already a cause for concern on college and university campuses.”

NCBI ROFL: Want to cure your malaria? Get wasted!

ncbi rofl — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:00:30 +0000

It’s booze week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring articles about ethanol, ethyl alcohol, and even CH3CH2OH. Enjoy!

Effect of alcohol on growth of Plasmodium falciparum.

“The effect of ethanol on the in vitro growth of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum was investigated. 17 mM (0.08%) and 85 mM (0.39%) ethanol were added to parasite cultures and growth was determined for six days. A significant growth inhibition for both ethanol concentrations was observed on each day. It reached 65% for 85 mM ethanol after six days of incubation. Malarial parasites are strongly inhibited by ethanol concentrations which are attainable by extensive alcohol consumption.”

Photo: flickr/cyclonebill

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NCBI ROFL: The effects of acute ethanol consumption on sexual response and sexual risk-taking intent.

ncbi rofl — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:00:38 +0000

“Two theories of sexual risk taking (disinhibition and alcohol myopia) were tested using genital measures of sexual response and computer measures of sexual risk propensity. A total of 44 men and women completed two sessions comparing responses to erotic films while consuming alcohol (breath alcohol doses were .025 g/kg and .08 g/kg) or juice alone. After consuming alcohol, more sexual arousal was reported in response to neutral films and at a breath alcohol level of .08 g/kg as compared to no alcohol. Genital responses for men and women increased during sexual films, but men did not respond as strongly when breath alcohol level was .08 g/kg. Intentions to have intercourse with a new partner at baseline predicted the level of sexual arousal reported. As self-reported sexual arousal increased in response to sexual films and higher alcohol dose, the intent to engage in intercourse with a new partner increased. Alcohol dose was not related to later sexual intercourse intentions. With no direct relationship of alcohol and intercourse intentions, results appear more consistent with a disinhibition model of sexual arousal.”

Photo: flickr/ albany_tim

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NCBI ROFL: What? I can’t get drunk from soaking my feet in vodka? :(

ncbi rofl — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:00:43 +0000

Testing the validity of the Danish urban myth that alcohol can be absorbed through feet: open labelled self experimental study

“Objective: To determine the validity of the Danish urban myth that it is possible to get drunk by submerging feet in alcohol… The primary end point was the concentration of plasma ethanol (detection limit 2.2 mmol/L (10 mg/100 mL)), measured every 30 minutes for three hours while feet were submerged in a washing-up bowl containing the contents of three 700 mL bottles of vodka. The secondary outcome was self assessment of intoxication related symptoms (self confidence, urge to speak, and number of spontaneous hugs), scored on a scale of 0 to 10. Plasma ethanol concentrations were below the detection limit of 2.2 mmol/L (10 mg/100 mL) throughout the experiment. No significant changes were observed in the intoxication related symptoms, although self confidence and urge to speak increased slightly at the start of the study, probably due to the setup. Our results suggest that feet are impenetrable to the alcohol component of vodka. We therefore conclude that the Danish urban myth of being able to get drunk by submerging feet ...

NCBI ROFL: New weight loss plan: drink crappy wine.

ncbi rofl — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:00:37 +0000

Fine as North Dakota wine: sensory expectations and the intake of companion foods.

“Taste expectations can influence taste evaluations. It is not known, however, whether the environmental cues that influence taste expectations–such as suggestible names and brand labels–can have a referred impact on the intake volume of companion foods. Adult diners who ordered a prix-fixe restaurant meal were given a complimentary glass of wine that had been relabeled to induce either favorable (“new from California”) or unfavorable (“new from North Dakota”) taste expectations. An analysis of plate waste indicated that those who believed they had been drinking California wine ate 12% more of their meal than those who instead believed they drank North Dakota wine. In combination with a sensory-based lab study, these results show that environmental cues–such as label-induced sensory expectations–can have a far-reaching impact on the food intake of companion foods.”

Photo: flickr/@joefoodie

NCBI ROFL: Smelly Week: How to train your mouse to be a wine snob.

ncbi rofl — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00:42 +0000

It’s smelly week on NCBI ROFL! All week long we’ll feature the funniest papers about the science of stink. Enjoy!

Performance of mice in discrimination of liquor odors: behavioral evidence for olfactory attention.

“We examined performance of mice in discrimination of liquor odors by Y-maze behavioral assays. Thirsty mice were initially trained to choose the odor of a red wine in the Y-maze. After successful training (>70% concordance for each trained mouse), the individual mice were able to discriminate the learned red wine from other liquors, including white wine, rosé wine, sake, and plum liqueur. However, when the mice were tested to distinguish fine differences between 2 brands of red wine, their performance significantly varied among the individual trained mice. Among 10 mice tested, 2 mice were able to discriminate between the red wines (>75% concordance) whereas 6 mice failed to distinguish between them (50-67% concordance, where chance could be assumed to be 50%). More importantly, 2 other mice exhibited lower than 30% concordance, indicating that they were more attracted to the nonrewarded red wine compared with the learned one. This result suggested that the individual mice directed attention to different ...

NCBI ROFL: Scientific study gives green light to drinking before GREs!

ncbi rofl — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:53 +0000

The effects of binge drinking on college students’ next-day academic test-taking performance and mood state.

“AIM: To assess the effects of binge drinking on students’ next-day academic test-taking performance. DESIGN: A placebo-controlled cross-over design with randomly assigned order of conditions. Participants were randomized to either alcoholic beverage [mean = 0.12 g% breath alcohol concentration (BrAC)] or placebo on the first night and then received the other beverage a week later. The next day, participants were assessed on test-taking, neurocognitive performance and mood state. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 196 college students (>or=21 years) recruited from greater Boston. SETTING: The trial was conducted at the General Clinical Research Center at the Boston Medical Center. MEASUREMENTS: The Graduate Record Examinations(c) (GREs) and a quiz on a lecture presented the previous day measured test-taking performance; the Neurobehavioral Evaluation System (NES3) and the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) measured neurocognitive performance; and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) measured mood. FINDINGS: Test-taking performance was not affected on the morning after alcohol administration, but mood state and attention/reaction-time were affected. CONCLUSION: Drinking to a level of 0.12 g% BrAC does not affect next-day test-taking performance, but does affect some ...

NCBI ROFL: Superbowl Special: Sports fans who tailgate are more likely to get drunk.

ncbi rofl — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:00:29 +0000

Can We Assess Blood Alcohol Levels of Attendees Leaving Professional Sporting Events?

“Background: We measured blood alcohol content (BAC) levels of attendees at professional sporting events and assessed the factors associated with higher BACs. Methods: We conducted BAC tests of 362 adult attendees following 13 baseball games and three football games. We ran multivariate analyses to obtain factors associated with the risk of having a higher BAC. Results: In this assessment, 40% of the participants had a positive BAC, ranging from 0.005 to 0.217. Those who reported tailgating before the event had 14 times the odds of having a BAC > 0.08 and those under age 35 had nearly 8 times the odds of having a BAC > 0.08 (both compared to a zero BAC). Attendees of Monday night football games were more likely to have positive BACs compared to attendees at all other games. Conclusions: We found that it is feasible to assess BAC levels of attendees at professional sporting events. Our findings suggest that a significant number of attendees at professional sporting events may have elevated BAC levels, particularly young adults and those who participated in tailgating activities. Further research ...

NCBI ROFL: Absolut memory distortions: alcohol placebos influence the misinformation effect.

ncbi rofl — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:36 +0000

“Can the simple suggestion that you have consumed alcohol affect your memory for an event? Alcohol placebos affect social behaviors but not nonsocial ones, and have not previously been shown to affect memory. We investigated the effect of alcohol placebos using materials that revealed both the social and the nonsocial influences of memory. Subjects drank plain tonic water, but half were told it was a vodka and tonic; then all subjects took part in an eyewitness memory experiment. Subjects who were told they drank alcohol were more swayed by misleading postevent information than were those who were told they drank tonic water, and were also more confident about the accuracy of their responses. Our results show that the mere suggestion of alcohol consumption may make subjects more susceptible to misleading information and inappropriately confident. These results also provide additional confirmation that eyewitness memory is influenced by both nonsocial and social factors.”

Photo: flickr/fabian.vervelde

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NCBI ROFL: Want to make your Africanized honey bees more aggressive? Get ‘em drunk!

ncbi rofl — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:56 +0000

It’s insect week on NCBI ROFL! All week long we’ll be featuring the funniest scientific papers about our favorite creepy crawlies. Enjoy!

Development of an ethanol model using social insects: IV. Influence of ethanol on the aggression of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).

“Experiments were designed to determine whether ethanol influenced aggression in honey bees. Two experiments are reported. In Exp. 1, harnessed honey bees were fed a 1%, 5%, 10%, or 20% ethanol solution. Two control groups received either a sucrose solution only or no pretreatment, respectively. The dependent variable was the number of sting extensions over 10 min. Analysis showed that aggression in harnessed bees was not influenced by prior ethanol consumption. Because there was some suspicion that the extension of the sting apparatus may be hindered by harnessing, and the authors wanted to use a design that increased ecological validity, Exp. 2 was conducted with free-flying bees. Sucrose or 20% ethanol solutions were placed in front of beehives, and the number of stings on a leather patch dangled in front of the hive served as the dependent variable. The experiment was terminated after 5 hr. because bees exposed ...

NCBI ROFL: Surprising study finds humongous drinks have more alcohol!

ncbi rofl — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:00:50 +0000

Large drinks are no mistake: glass size, not shape, affects alcoholic beverage drink pours.

“INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Alcohol content in drinks has been shown to be variable. This study evaluates claims regarding the effects of glass size and glass shape on the amount of alcohol served in on-premise drinks.

DESIGN AND METHODS: Wine and spirits drinks were purchased and measured in 80 on-premise establishments in 10 Northern California Counties. Alcohol content was measured as the liquid volume of the drink multiplied by the percentage alcohol by volume of given brands or from analysis of mixed drink and wine samples.

RESULTS: Spirits drinks were classified as either straight shots or mixed drinks. Mixed drinks poured in short wide glasses were not found to contain more alcohol than those poured in tall thin glasses. Straight shots and mixed drinks served in the relatively large pint glass and variable ‘other’ glass type were found to contain more alcohol than drinks served in a short wide glass. No other significant differences were found between glass types. Analyses of establishment characteristics found that bars with mostly black patrons serve spirits drinks with more alcohol than bars with ...

NCBI ROFL: Note to self: opening beer bottles with your teeth is bad.

ncbi rofl — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:00:43 +0000

An adventurous habit of bottle-cap opening resulting in an endodontic-periodontal lesion: a case report.

“An unusual case of an endodontic-periodontal lesion in a 29-year-old man resulting from a habit of opening beer bottle (metal) caps using his mandibular left molar is reported. The patient had been a chronic alcoholic with several emotional problems and was unaware of the injurious nature of his habit. Thus, the importance of a detailed case history and assessment of psychosocial aspects for an accurate diagnosis of such conditions is highlighted.”

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NCBI ROFL: Beer gushing: a global threat.

ncbi rofl — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 23:00:59 +0000

Are hydrophobins and/or non-specific lipid transfer proteins responsible for gushing in beer? New hypotheses on the chemical nature of gushing inducing factors.

“Gushing of beer is characterised by the fact that immediately after opening a bottle a great number of fine bubbles are created throughout the volume of beer and ascend quickly under foam formation, which flows out of the bottle. This infuriating gushing phenomenon has been, and still is, a problem of world-wide importance to the brewing industry. It is generally assumed that the causes of malt-derived gushing are due to the use of “weathered” barley or wheat and the growth of moulds in the field, during storage and malting. We now develop a hypothesis connecting several lines of evidence from different laboratories. These results indicate that the fungal hydrophobins, hydrophobic components of conidiospores or aerial mycelia, are gushing-inducing factors. Furthermore, increased formation of ns-LTPs (non-specific lipid transfer proteins), synthesised in grains as response to fungal infection, and their modification during the brewing process may be responsible for malt-derived gushing.”

Photo: flickr/ToOb

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NCBI ROFL: Munich Oktoberfest experience: remarkable impact of sex and age in ethanol intoxication.

ncbi rofl — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 23:00:40 +0000

“Approximately 5,000 of 6 million annual visitors of the Oktoberfest in Munich have to undergo medical treatment. Patients with alcohol intoxication without trauma or further complications are all treated in a specialized medical camp. We studied these patients in order to identify risk factors and to assess the relevance of the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) and of ethanol blood concentrations for patient management. In 2004 totally 405 patients suffering from ethanol intoxication without trauma were treated in the medical camp. A complete set of the following data was obtained from all 405 patients: GCS, ethanol blood concentration, age, sex, blood pressure (mean, systolic and diastolic), body temperature, heart rate, blood sugar, GOT, gamma-GT, and CK. A multivariate logistic regression model was applied to identify risk factors predicting patients at increased risk of hospitalization… …Low age (20-29 vs. > or =30 years, OR: 2.35, CI: 1.05-5.65) and male gender (male vs. female, OR: 3.58, CI: 1.36-9.34) independently predicted patients that had to be hospitalized. All other parameters including ethanol blood concentrations were not explanatory… …Men aged 20-29 years were at highest risk for hospital admission. Increased risk could not be explained by ...

NCBI ROFL: Oktoberfest week: Development of a simulated drinking game procedure to study risky alcohol use.

ncbi rofl — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:00:49 +0000

“The aim of the current study was to initiate and describe the development of a Simulated Drinking Game Procedure (SDGP), a safe, efficient, and alcohol-free laboratory protocol for studying drinking game behavior. Fifty-two undergraduates completed the SDGP in a laboratory session, where participants played singles and/or doubles games of Beer Pong. Water was substituted for alcohol in all of the games. The number of drinks consumed during matches and 20-min play periods were coded during each session, and software was used to estimate the peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) a participant would achieve if he or she had consumed actual alcohol while participating in the SDGP. Results indicated that participation in Beer Pong can lead to rapid consumption of alcohol and an associated rise in BAC. Results also highlight additional risks for female participants associated with participation in drinking games. The SDGP is a research tool capable of increasing our understanding of drinking games.”

Photo: flickr/Melle_Oh

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NCBI ROFL: Oktoberfest week: I’m totally buzzzzzzzzed.

ncbi rofl — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:00:22 +0000

The behavior and social communication of honey bees (Apis mellifera carnica Poll.) under the influence of alcohol.

“In this study, the effects of ethanol on honey bee social communication and behavior within the hive were studied to further investigate the usefulness of honey bees as an ethanol-abuse model. Control (1.5 M sucrose) and experimental (1.5 M sucrose, 2.5% w/v ethanol) solutions were directly administered to individual forager bees via proboscis contact with glass capillary tubes. The duration, frequency, and proportion of time spent performing social and nonsocial behaviors were the dependent variables of interest. No differences in the relative frequency or proportion of time spent performing the target behaviors were observed. However, ethanol consumption significantly decreased bouts of walking, resting, and the duration of trophallactic (i.e., food-exchange) encounters. The results of this study suggest that a low dose of ethanol is sufficient to disrupt both social and nonsocial behaviors in honey bees. In view of these results, future behavioral-genetic investigations of honey bee social behavior are encouraged.”

Photo: flickr/Henrique Vicente

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NCBI ROFL: Oktoberfest week: The top 11 ways to appear drunk.

ncbi rofl — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:00:24 +0000

Judgment of intoxication by untrained social drinkers across drinking settings.

“Subjects’ perceptions of cues used to judge intoxication across different drinking setting were investigated. Drinkers at a fraternity dance party and in a college town bar rated the importance of 18 cues for making estimations of their level of intoxication. Results indicated that 11 of the 18 cues were rated as more important in the party situation than in the bar situation. These results suggest that subjects apply cues to intoxication differently in different situations.”

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Bonus table:

Photo: flickr/bistrosavage

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NCBI ROFL: Oktoberfest week: Are drinking games sports?

ncbi rofl — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:00:20 +0000

Are drinking games sports? College athlete participation in drinking games and alcohol-related problems.

“Studies indicate greater heavy episodic drinking and related consequences for college student-athletes compared with nonathletes. Surprisingly, little research has examined college athletes’ participation in drinking games, a context associated with excessive alcohol consumption and negative alcohol-related consequences in college students. We examined how drinking game participation contributes to alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences among college-level intramural and intercollegiate athletes compared with nonathletes in two independent samples. Study 1 consisted of 1,395 randomly selected students (61% women) at a West Coast college campus, including 335 students who reported intramural athletic participation. Study 2 consisted of 6,055 randomly selected college students (63% women) from three college campuses, including 1,439 intramural athletes and 317 intercollegiate athletes. Results of Study 1 indicated that intramural athletes consumed significantly more drinks per week, had significantly higher typical and peak blood alcohol concentration levels, and reported more negative consequences than nonathletes. Drinking game participation mediated the relationship between intramural athlete status and measures of consumption and consequences. Results of Study 2, including both intramural and intercollegiate athletes, were consistent with those of Study 1, ...

NCBI ROFL: Spring break: Prairie vole edition!

ncbi rofl — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:00:39 +0000

Prairie voles as a novel model of socially facilitated excessive drinking.

“Social relationships strongly affect alcohol drinking in humans. Traditional laboratory rodents do not exhibit social affiliations with specific peers, and cannot adequately model how such relationships impact drinking. The prairie vole is a socially monogamous rodent used to study social bonds. The present study tested the prairie vole as a potential model for the effects of social affiliations on alcohol drinking. Same-sex adult sibling prairie voles were paired for five days, and then either separated into individual cages, or housed in pairs. Starting at the time of separation, the voles received unlimited access to alcohol in a two-bottle choice test versus water. Pair-housed siblings exhibited higher preference for alcohol, but not saccharin, than singly housed voles. There was a significant correlation between the amount of alcohol consumed by each member of a pair when they were housed together (r = 0.79), but not when housed apart (r = 0.20). Following automated analysis of circadian patterns of fluid consumption indicating peak fluid intake before and after the dark phase, a limited access two-hour two-bottle choice procedure was established. Drinking in this procedure ...

NCBI ROFL: I SAID, I THINK YOU’VE HAD ENOUGH TO DRINK!!!

ncbi rofl — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:00:14 +0000

The acute effects of alcohol on auditory thresholds.

“BACKGROUND: There is very little knowledge about alcohol-induced hearing loss. Alcohol consumption and tolerance to loud noise is a well observed phenomenon as seen in the Western world where parties get noisier by the hour as the evening matures. This leads to increase in the referrals to the “hearing aid clinic” and the diagnosis of “cocktail party deafness” which may not necessarily be only due to presbyacusis or noise-induced hearing loss. METHODS: 30 healthy volunteers were recruited for this trial which took place in a controlled acoustic environment. Each of the individuals was required to consume a pre-set amount of alcohol and the hearing was tested (using full pure tone audiogram) pre- and post- alcohol consumption over a broad range of 6 frequencies. Volunteers who achieve a minimum breath alcohol threshold level of 30 u/l had to have second audiogram testing. All the volunteers underwent timed psychometric and visuo-spatial skills tests to detect the effect of alcohol on the decision-making and psychomotor co-ordination. RESULTS: Our results showed that there was a positive association between increasing breath alcohol concentration and the magnitude of ...

NCBI ROFL: Anticipated versus actual alcohol consumption during 21st birthday celebrations.

ncbi rofl — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:00:46 +0000

“OBJECTIVE: The 21st birthday celebration is often associated with excessive alcohol consumption. The current study examined whether individuals consume more alcohol than anticipated during their celebration and whether situational factors contribute to prediction errors. METHOD: College students (N = 150; 50% female) who planned to drink during their 21st birthday celebration were contacted by telephone 1 week before their celebrations and asked about their birthday plans, including anticipated alcohol consumption. The week after the celebration, in-person semi-structured interviews and self-report measures were administered to obtain information about the 21st birthday celebration, including type and amount of alcohol consumed, pace of drinking, influential peer involvement, and engagement in 21st birthday traditions. RESULTS: The majority of 21st birthday celebrants consumed more alcohol than they anticipated, with men showing greater prediction error than women. Situational factors were positively associated with the discrepancy between anticipated and actual alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Drinking shots, drinking at a fast pace, celebrating with influential peers, and engaging in 21st birthday traditions were associated with drinking more alcohol than anticipated during 21st birthday celebrations. Findings suggest future interventions that target situational factors could reduce excessive 21st birthday drinking.”

NCBI ROFL: St. Paddy’s Day special: Surprise! Drinking makes the Irish more aggressive!

ncbi rofl — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:16 +0000

Cross-cultural comparisons of Irish and American adolescent drinking practices and beliefs.

“The drinking behavior and alcohol expectancies of 168 Irish adolescents aged 15-18 were compared with those of a group of American adolescents matched on age and sex. The Irish adolescents reported less frequent social drinking and less problematic drinking. However, unlike American adolescents, those Irish youth who did drink in a social, frequent manner also reported drinking-related problems. Irish adolescents expect less social benefit, less improvement of cognitive and motor functioning and less sexual enhancement, but greater increase in aggression as a consequence of drinking. These findings are discussed as possible etiological clues to established differences between Irish adult drinking and drinking by adults in other countries.”

Photo: flickr/greyloch

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NCBI ROFL: Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes.

ncbi rofl — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:39 +0000

“Malaria and alcohol consumption both represent major public health problems. Alcohol consumption is rising in developing countries and, as efforts to manage malaria are expanded, understanding the links between malaria and alcohol consumption becomes crucial. Our aim was to ascertain the effect of beer consumption on human attractiveness to malaria mosquitoes in semi field conditions in Burkina Faso. We used a Y tube-olfactometer designed to take advantage of the whole body odour (breath and skin emanations) as a stimulus to gauge human attractiveness to Anopheles gambiae (the primary African malaria vector) before and after volunteers consumed either beer (n = 25 volunteers and a total of 2500 mosquitoes tested) or water (n = 18 volunteers and a total of 1800 mosquitoes). Water consumption had no effect on human attractiveness to An. gambiae mosquitoes, but beer consumption increased volunteer attractiveness. Body odours of volunteers who consumed beer increased mosquito activation (proportion of mosquitoes engaging in take-off and up-wind flight) and orientation (proportion of mosquitoes flying towards volunteers’ odours). The level of exhaled carbon dioxide and body temperature had no effect on human attractiveness to mosquitoes. Despite individual volunteer variation, beer consumption ...

NCBI ROFL: Binge drinking in Jewish and non-Jewish white college students.

ncbi rofl — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:10 +0000

“BACKGROUND: In the United States, religious commitment, as measured by service attendance, has an inverse relationship with alcohol consumption, heavy use, and problem use. This association, however, has not been found consistently in Jewish Americans. The present study examined the relationship between religious variables and binge drinking in Jewish and non-Jewish white college students. In addition, the association among genetic, cultural, and religious variables and binge drinking was examined in the Jewish sample alone. …RESULTS: As hypothesized, more frequent religious service attendance related to lower rates of binge drinking in non-Jews but was not related to binge drinking in Jews. Within the Jewish sample, individuals who were religiously affiliated had approximately one third the risk of binge drinking as those who were secularly affiliated, but identification with Jewish culture was not related to binge drinking. In the total sample, individuals who possessed a variant alcohol dehydrogenase allele ADH2*2 were approximately half as likely to binge drink as those who did not possess this allele. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with previous studies that find an inverse relationship between religious service attendance and heavy alcohol use in Christian but not Jewish college ...