Alcoholism is one of the most serious diseases affecting American society: alcohol use disorders affect nearly 17 million people in the country and is the third most common cause of preventable death every year. However, scientists at the Texas A & M Health Science Center College of Medicine recently made a discovery that could alter these statistics immeasurably. In a study published by the Journal of Neuroscience, these scientists reports that they believed they had identified the neuron in the brain that caused alcoholism and other addictions. If this finding can be verified and proven, it could send shock waves through the world that could eliminate alcoholism and addiction forever.
What is the Science Behind the Discovery? For years,
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The difference between the two neuron types is significant: D1 neurons tell the brain to continue a behavior (because it produces pleasure) while the D2 tell the brain to stop doing a behavior because it is unpleasant. Tracking the behavior of these neurons in their study showed an amazing discovery: D1 exposed to large amounts of alcohol were more highly developed. As a result, the D1 receptors were more “excitable” and tended to become active without …show more content…
Essentially, scientists have discovered why increased dopamine leads to addiction.
Could This Lead to a Cure for Alcoholism? Although it is much too early to tell if a cure for alcoholism is possible, this finding creates a much higher probability of discovery. In fact, during the study, scientists actually gave the animals a drug that could partially block activity of the D1 receptor. Amazingly, this actually seemed to decrease the animal's desire to drink alcohol. While the animals still had alcohol cravings, they were at a much lower level than they were without the drug. Tellingly, blocking the D2 receptors did nothing to suppress cravings. So the D1 receptor is clearly the culprit here. The potential for a cure is great: there is a real possibility that scientists could find ways to block D1 excitability in a focused manner and eliminate its sensitivity to alcohol. In theory, this could actually eliminate the symptoms of physical alcoholism.
What About Psychological
Alcoholism is a long standing health issue, and there has been ongoing research to seek out drugs that could effectively help to treat alcoholism, acute and long-term. According to an article by Johnson, Swift, Addolorato, Ciraulo, and Myrick (2005), a challenge has been to identify medications that not only reduce the rewarding effects of alcohol, but the dependence, post cessation craving, and the withdrawal craving.
When I started this project, my thinking was ¨why would they carve croatoan and cro and not just one or the other and why carve it and not write it? So I decided to put the letters “croatoancro” in an anagram solver and one word was undefined but as two words there was raccoon taro, and the word raccoon originated from them, in Virginia which could have been a code of some sort that only John White and his family knew about and taro is a tropical asian plant which was very popular in Asia and worth many. My end theory is that an asian ship was making a voyage to the new land to try and grow the Taro plants and the ship was leaking and crash landed on Roanoke. The Asian explorers offered the chance for the colonists to come with them and live
Substance use disorder also has neurological factors, such as dopamine and endogenous opioids being affected by use, creating an extremely pleasurable high (Rosenberg and Kosslyn, 2011). Though, this effect on neurotransmitters creates a difficulty when chronic drinkers try to quit. When one’s body gets used to the addition of alcohol to one’s system their body will no longer produce these endogenous opioids without it, creating intense and painful withdrawal symptoms (Rosenberg & Kosslyn 2011). These factors make alcohol extremely difficult to quit.
In a study by Vengeliene, Kiefer, and Spanagel (2008), the role of d-cycloserine (DCS) on the extinction of conditioned alcohol-seeking behavior is investigated. In a dual-lever operant chamber, Wistar rats were trained using operant conditioning to press a lever to self-administer ethanol, while the opposite lever released water. Olfactory stimuli in the form of orange flavour extract and anise extract was added to aid the rats in discriminating between ethanol and water availability respectively. In addition to predictive olfactory stimuli, response-contingent cues were presented after each lever press. Through classical conditioning, ethanol is repeatedly paired with a conditioned auditory stimulus, similarly water self-administration results in the presentation of a light stimulus. The subjects were then divided into two groups, one group was injected with a vehicle and the other was injected with 5mg/kg DCS 60 minutes prior to each extinction session. During the twelve consecutive daily extinction sessions, both levers were extended with olfactory stimuli present and lever responses resulted in their associated cues, but no ethanol or water was released. One day after the last extinction session, the animals were primed with a dose of ethanol, and their ethanol responding was tested with its associated olfactory stimuli and response-contingent cue to study relapse-like behavior.
With the possibility of drugs capable of suppressing the urge to consume alcohol in addicts, many people who normally would not be helped by a simple 12 step program, could use such drugs in combination with standard treatment in the future to help combat their addiction.
Equally, Hon (2003) reported that, “The active ingredients of effective treatment for alcohol problems have been distilled from several generations of research into the treatment of alcohol abuse and dependence” (2003, p.
The Movie “The Immigrant,” directed by James Gray in 2013, is a historical piece, mostly because it was not made in 1921 when the events it portrays actually happened. I would also have to attribute the movie to be a drama as well as a romance, as the movie is about an evil man hooking the main character, Ewa who is played by Marion Cotillard, into becoming a prostitute. The movie has certain aspects of romance as well as fear. There are many times where you feel love will be sparked and Ewa will live happily ever after. However, these moments are fleeting and go away very quickly, only to pop up again a few minutes later. In the two hour duration of the movie, I felt hopeful, as well as sad. While not learning any historical information, I was entranced in the lives of the characters. I feel as though they did a fantastic job of portraying the time period, through the cloths, speech, and even the way the buildings were built.
Substance addiction can hugely impact on a person’s thinking, functioning and behaviour. Whilst depressant drugs such as alcohol and opioids slow down your central nervous system (CNS), stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine increase the activity of the CNS, leading to higher blood pressure, heart rate and increased alertness. Repeated abuse of the substance leads to tolerance and withdrawal, in turn this leads to the user showing signs of irrational behaviour. Another form of substance abuse is hallucinogens; they can cause powerful changes in sensory perceptions. It works by binding to the serotonin receptors, these neurons control visual information and emotions, and this can lead to various effects on the user. Neurobiology can help us understand the reasons for addiction and the effects they have on us. Groman and Jentsch (2012) discuss key issues of differentiating the causes and consequences of addiction through neuroimaging and behavioural research on monkeys, they found that the dysfunction of the dopamine
It is very scary that a known fatal substance is so readily available in today’s society. A lot of people like to relax with a drink of alcohol; however, it can cause many serious problems for others who start to become dependent on it.
Alcohol is one of many dangerous substances that effects our bodies. The effects of this drug can be very harmful. Alcohol is a potent non-prescription drug sold to anyone over the national legal drinking age, 21. Unlike other deadly drugs it is easy to access. This makes it easy to over-consume and create a tragic accident, even death. It can damage a person not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. Many people each year become more and more addicted to alcohol and soon experience all of it?s dangerous effects. Even if alcohol use is discontinued, some of these damages can not be cured, because the scars have been left on those that drink and those that surround them. The only hope
Many people have been misguided about whether or not alcoholism is “disease” that attacks a person’s good health. A key suggestion of those that believe alcoholism is a disease is that a disease is uncontrolled. This is not so. When people develop an addiction to alcohol they tend to push everything of importance out of their lives: family, friends, and sometimes even jobs. People with addiction to alcohol throw
Alcoholism is a prominent substance abuse issue in Western society. The treatment method of controlled drinking as opposed to abstinence is a continuing cause of controversy in alcohol research to this day. The US is different from Europe in its acceptance of controlled drinking as a goal of treatment: “in the US alcohol dependence is typically depicted as a ‘recurring disease’ and the ‘successful abstainer’ as a ‘recovering’ though never ‘recovered’ alcoholic” (Coldwell, 2005). Depending on the alcohol abuse patient’s individual characteristics, either controlled drinking or abstinence is chosen as a treatment.
Alcoholism is a very serious disease, which can cause illness, death, injuries, schooling problems, family breakups, and crime. It is a proven fact the alcohol kills more people than any other illegal drugs combined. However, alcohol courses freely through American society, from college bars to corporate lunches. In a recent journal article by The Scientist, it is stated, "Technology shows alcohol abuse changes brain's molecular programming and circuitry? (Scientist). Thus revealing that alcohol is a quick fix that will hurt us all in the long run.
Students should be permitted limited use of mobile phone while attending their schools. Not all students use their mobile or cellular phones while at school; many do. Not all students who use their cell phone in school are using them during class. Students and educational staff come down very hard on students for using cell phones during class session, in many cases, justifiably so. Yet, there are instances when mobile phone use during school is not a distraction or threat to the students' attention and education.
Alcoholism has been a major problem in society for a number of years. In fact, alcoholism should be compared to a virus. This is because a person can never be completely cured from alcoholism; they can only fight the battle, day to day, hoping not to relapse. When it comes to the etiologies, or causes, of alcoholism, there seems to be three distinct origins of alcoholism. These causes are genetic factors, dependency caused by brain chemical imbalances after long-term use, and social and emotional factors.