Don't Drink Too Much If You Want To Keep Your Sense Of Humour Problem drinkers have trouble understanding jokes and they don't always find them funny. Research published in this month's issue of Addiction describes a study of 29 alcoholic patients in a clinic in Bochum, Germany who took a range of tests to measure their mood, intellectual ability, memory and psychomotor skills, and capacity to appreciate jokes. [click link for full article] Publ.Date : Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 PST
Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Offers Complete Drugs-of-Abuse Panel With Addition Of Five New Assays Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson company, announces FDA 510(k) clearance and worldwide availability of five additional MicroTip? assays for use in the diagnosis and treatment of drug use or overdose. The five new tests complete the menu of eight drugs-of-abuse assays now available for use on the Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics VITROS® 5,1 FS Chemistry System. [click link for full article] Publ.Date : Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:00:00 PST
Both Genetics And Dopaminergic Neurotransmission Have A Role In Delirium Tremens Alcohol-dependent individuals have a five to 10 percent lifetime risk of developing delirium tremens (DT) following alcohol withdrawal. DT is characterized by a clouding of consciousness, mental confusion or disorientation, and is often accompanied by hallucinations and agitation. Although the symptoms of DT are relatively well known, the pathophysiology of DT is less clear. [click link for full article] Publ.Date : Tue, 30 Jan 2007 02:00:00 PST
West Australian Women: Drinking Before, And During, Pregnancy * In a survey of non-indigenous West Australian women, 79.8 percent reported drinking alcohol in the three months before becoming pregnant. * Nearly half of the women (46.7%) surveyed reported that their pregnancy was unplanned. * More than half (58.7%) drank alcohol during pregnancy despite recommendations of abstinence. [click link for full article] Publ.Date : Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:00:00 PST
Parkinson's Disease Medications And Characteristics Of Increased Risk For Compulsive Gambling Linked Patients with Parkinson's disease who are younger when they develop the condition, have a personality trait known as novelty-seeking or whose personal or family history includes alcohol abuse may be more likely to develop pathological gambling as a side effect of medications used to treat their condition, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. [click link for full article] Publ.Date : Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:00:00 PST