Alcohol is one of the major risk factors for negative health outcomes worldwide. It accounts for more than 60 alcohol-related diseases, ranging from addiction, through liver cirrhosis, to cancer. Collectively, these conditions account for mortality and morbidity that make alcohol use one of the leading preventable causes of disability adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost globally. In this book, an international faculty covers all aspects of alcohol-related disorders, ranging from addiction/alcohol use disorders (AUD) to alcohol-related diseases of other organs such as liver, heart or cancer. A special focus is to reach out to primary care physicians who are in the front line of this major health problem. The book also provides an update for addiction specialists, as well as specialists in internal medicine, gastroenterology and hepatology. The book is divided into sections that include epidemiology, alcohol use disorders and addiction, alcohol-related liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, primary care and interdisciplinary approaches and other alcohol-related diseases. Besides current diagnostic measures and treatment strategies, the book deals with the many underlying molecular and genetic mechanisms of alcohol toxicity. Novel insights include prospective data on all-cause mortality and the emerging major role of alcohol-mediated hemolysis and enhanced red blood cell turnover. The book also aims at guiding policy makers to handle the topic of alcohol in our society more responsibly.

Alcohol abuse ranks among the most common and also the most severe environmental hazards to human health. Its significance is heightened by the possibility of prevention by elimination of the habit, however, rarely exerted. The incidence of deleterious effects on human health has relentlessly risen in the past years for a variety of factors. They include migration of populations and, particularly, increased urbanization. Thus, in some parts of the world, population groups previously spared have become involved, which is also re flected in the increasing number of breweries and distilleries in the developing countries. Social, religious, and gender-related barriers to alcohol consumption are loosening, and the financial improvement of some segments of populations now enable them to buy alcoholic beverages. Thus the greatest percentage rise in the United States has recently been in black women. Adolescents and young people drink more alcoholic beverages than ever, and growing alcohol abuse by pregnant women has let to an increase of the incidence of the fetal alcohol syndrome. While the social and behavioral, including psychiatric, consequences of alcoholism are staggering, the gastrointestinal and, particularly, hepatic manifestations are the most widespread somatic effects, and chronic hepatic disease in alcoholics appears to cause the greatest cost to society. Indeed, mortality from liver cirrhosis is considered a reliable index of alcohol consumption in a country.

Molecular Aspects of Alcohol and Nutrition is a valuable resource for nutrition researchers and nutritionists who study or treat alcohol-related diseases. Experts from across the field of alcohol research explain how alcohol disrupts normal fat, carbohydrate, and protein metabolic processes occurring in the liver as well as other parts of the body. The book discusses how this can lead to alcoholic liver disease (ALD) as well as contribute to the onset of Type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. It also explores how alcohol affects nutrient absorption in the gastrointestinal tract and can lead to anemia and reduced amounts of fat soluble vitamins. This book explores both the primary and secondary consequences of alcohol consumption. Chapters in the first section investigate the basic science of alcohol metabolism – focusing on how alcohol and its toxic metabolites disrupt and impair normal nutrient regulation at the molecular level. Further chapters explore how alcohol affects many extra-hepatic organs and tissues as well as the secondary consequences of alcohol consumption such as reduced levels of minerals like magnesium, calcium, and trace elements like zinc. - Offers a valuable resource for nutrition researchers and nutritionists who study alcohol-related diseases and attempt to treat them through nutritional strategies - Explores how alcohol and its toxic metabolite acetaldehyde disrupt and impair normal macro and micro nutrient regulation at the molecular level - Investigates how alcohol affects and interferes with cell signaling, cell death pathways, calcium homeostasis leading to osteoporosis, oxygen balance, as well as the pathophysiology of alcohol consumption and abuse

In this issue of Clinics in Liver Disease, guest editor Dr. Ashwani K. Singal brings his considerable expertise to the topic of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease. Portal hypertension is often one of the major complications seen in advanced liver disease. Top experts discuss various aspects of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD), to provide comprehensive coverage on current status, update recent developments especially during the last decade, and highlight clinical and experimental unmet needs for practicing providers and for researchers in the field of ALD. - Contains 18 relevant, practice-oriented topics including microbiome in ALD; diagnosis of alcoholic use disorder and of ALD; non-invasive tests in assessment of ALD patients; treatment of alcoholic use disorder: behavioral and pharmacological therapies; current medical treatment of ALD: pharmacological and nutrition; liver transplantation in ALD; digital technology and AI in management of ALD; and more. - Provides in-depth clinical reviews on alcohol-associated liver disease, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews.

Integrated Approaches to Drug and Alcohol Problems: Action on Addiction provides a pathway through the field of addiction, giving a clear description of points along that path, from the beginning of problematic use of drugs and alcohol, to treatment, support, recovery and reintegration in society. The book illustrates the principle of integrated approaches to tackling the rise in problems with addiction. Practical applications of these approaches are demonstrated in the work of UK charity Action on Addiction, one organisation which has been influenced by, and contributed to, the research and practice of the authors. The interventions illustrated within Integrated Approaches to Drug and Alcohol Problems demonstrate how the findings of international research can be brought together to provide effective services for individuals, families and communities suffering from addiction-related problems. Some of the foremost internationally recognized addiction researchers, clinicians and trainers from the UK, USA and Canada have contributed chapters to this book. It will be of interest to all those working in the field of drug and alcohol addiction, including counsellors and therapists, as well as GPs, nurses and public health officers. Integrated Approaches to Drug and Alcohol Problems will also have general appeal to anyone studying Psychology and Mental Health courses at undergraduate or postgraduate level, plus those affected by addiction.

Recent studies have provided clear evidence on the role of neural-immune interactions in normal brain function and neuropathological conditions. Neuroimmune factors, which play an essential role in neuroinflammatory response, have been implicated in the regulation of neuronal function and plasticity. Thus, neural-immune interactions provide a new frame work for understanding the role of the neuroimmune system in normal brain function, neurodevelopment, and a variety of neurological disorders. These advances have a far reaching impact on many areas of neuroscience, including alcohol research. Studies using human alcoholic brains, gene knockout mice, and gene expression profiling have established a clear link between alcoholism and an altered neuroimmune profile. This book integrates emerging knowledge on neural-immune interactions with key discoveries in alcohol research and provides a comprehensive overview of neural-immune interactions in brain function and behavior associated with alcohol use disorders. While Neural–Immune Interaction in Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders focuses on neural-immune interactions in areas directly related to alcohol use disorders, it is not intended to be all inclusive. Several areas, including sleep disorders, pain, and cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways, are not covered as independent chapters but briefly mentioned in the text. The close relevance of these topics to neural-immune interactions and alcohol use disorders warrants future discussion and more research efforts.

For people with alcohol excess and liver disease, successful management must be two-fold with management of both their psychological/physical addiction to alcohol and their liver disease. Alcohol Abuse and liver disease, with its joint focus on hepatology and psychiatry, provides both hepatologists and psychiatrists of all levels with a practical, concise and didactic guide to the investigation and clinical management of those with alcohol-related problems. Edited by a practicing hepatologist in the UK and a practising specialist in psychiatry/substance abuse in the US, it covers areas such as: • Risk factors for alcoholic liver disease • Interaction of alcohol with other co-morbidities • Clinical assessment of alcohol intake • Detoxification and management of withdrawal • Psychotherapeutic and pharmaceutical interventions • Treatment of liver disease Key points, management diagrams and high-quality images are all be supported by the very latest in clinical guidelines from the major hepatology and psychiatry societies such as the APA, EPA, AASLD and EASL. With increasing emphasis on multi-disciplinary speciality care in this area, this is the ideal tool to consult in order to provide the best care possible care for what are very challenging patients to manage.

Vols. for 1963- include as pt. 2 of the Jan. issue: Medical subject headings.

Alcohol abuse remains a significant problem world-wide. The most commonly affected organ remains the liver with a risk of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) which can range from asymptomatic to alcoholic hepatitis to alcoholic cirrhosis. In 2010, alcohol-attributable cirrhosis was responsible for 0.9% of all global deaths. Given the sheer magnitude of alcohol abuse and alcoholic liver disease, an update on this topic is pertinent and relevant. This issue will focus on a variety of topics including alcoholism, the pathogenesis of ALD, the spectrum of ALD, the pathology of ALD, and the long-term management of patients with ALD. Alcoholic hepatitis is a particular type of ALD with a high mortality. This issue will explore the syndrome of alcoholic hepatitis, its prognostic markers, and the available therapies. Because alcohol intake can influence so many other conditions of the liver (especially hepatitis C), articles in this issue will also explore the impact of alcohol abuse on other liver conditions. In addition, several other topics such as nutritional therapy for ALD, ALD and liver cancer, and ALD and infection risk will be explored. Also, even though it is quite controversial, we will also explore liver transplant as a therapy for alcoholic liver disease including alcoholic hepatitis.