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Epidemiologic studies consistently report a U-shaped curve relationship between the amount of alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease, with consumption of ≥ three alcoholic drinks being associated with an increased risk. However, the cardioprotective effect of light and moderate alcohol consumption has been recently questioned. In the absence of a randomized trial confirming the cardioprotective effect of light or moderate alcohol consumption, an alternative method to prove the causality is Mendelian randomization using a genetic variant serving as a proxy for alcohol consumption. A Mendelian randomization analysis by Holmes et al. suggests that a reduction in alcohol intake is beneficial for cardiovascular health also in light to moderate drinkers. In a recent analysis of 83 prospective studies, alcohol consumption was roughly linearly associated with a higher risk of stroke, coronary heart disease excluding myocardial infarction, heart failure and risk of death from aortic aneurysm dissection. By contrast, increased alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of myocardial infarction. "Low-risk" alcohol consumption recommended by the National Institute of Public Health, Czech Republic, should not exceed 16 g of 100% ethanol/day for women and 24 g/day for men; at least two days a week should be alcohol free, and the dose of ethanol during binge drinking should not exceed 40 g. In practice, this means one standard drink daily for five days at most and two standard drinks at most when binge drinking. These amounts should be considered the highest acceptable limits, but alcohol consumption in general should be discouraged.

Purpose: The aim of this experimental study was to investigate whether paper-and-pencil and computerized surveys administered in the school setting yield equivalent data quality indicators and risk behavior prevalence estimates., Methods: Data were drawn from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD®) carried out in Italy to monitor drug, alcohol, tobacco use and other risk-behaviors among Italian high school students aged 15-19 years. A sub-sample of schools was recruited for the study (1673 pupils). For each school, two entire randomly selected courses (from the first to the fifth grade) participated and were assigned randomly to the self-administered paper-and-pencil (N = 811) or computerized survey (N = 862). Differences in data quality were assessed using the following indicators: questionnaire completeness (missing gender and/or 50% of missing answers) and internal consistency (repetitive extreme response patterns). Separate logistic regression models were used to estimate the mode effect on the reporting of each risk behavior, controlling for gender and age. Finally, the prevalence estimates of the experimental study were compared to the results of the national ESPAD® study., Results: The computerized administration mode produced a higher proportion of invalid questionnaires, but the prevalence estimates generated from responses to the paper-and-pencil and computerized surveys were generally equivalent. Nevertheless, comparing these results with those of the national ESPAD® study, some differences in the prevalence rates were found., Conclusions: The findings suggest that in a proctored school setting, the computerized survey mode yields almost the same results as the paper-and-pencil mode. However, because of the reliance on existing informatics facilities until when all schools in the country will be sufficiently equipped for the computerized data collection, they should be given the opportunity to choose between paper-and-pencil and computerized survey modes, in order to avoid a possible selection bias., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Direct alcohol biomarkers are of growing interest for the assessment of alcohol consumption, with particular interest in phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in recent years. PEth is only formed when alcohol is present in the body. However, there is no statement about how much the PEth concentration increases after single moderate alcohol consumption. This study was conducted to determine the increase in PEth concentrations after a single drinking event. Additionally, a new volumetric sampling device (volumetric dried blood spot cards (DBSV)) was evaluated, which was designed to simplify further sampling processes and to allow for easy self-sampling. Dried blood samples from 31 volunteers were collected before and after single alcohol consumption with a mean maximum breath alcohol concentration of 0.4 mg/L (range: 0.30–0.55 mg/L). PEth concentrations were determined after automated extraction by liquid chromatography--tandem mass spectrometry. PEth 16:0/18:1 and PEth 16:0/18:2 concentrations increased to an average of 45 ng/mL each in patients starting below 20 ng/mL (range: 25.0–57.0 ng/mL for PEth 16:0/18:1; range 26.8–62.3 ng/mL for PEth 16:0/18:2). PEth concentrations in patients starting above 20 ng/mL increased by a mean of 30 ng/mL (range: 6.2–71.3 ng/mL for PEth 16:0/18:1; range 8.8–65.3 ng/mL for PEth 16:0/18:2). In addition, the comparison of the new sampling device DBSV with a standard filter paper card (with volumetrically applied 20 µL of blood samples) yielded a close agreement for the determined PEth concentrations in 24 forensic samples and three external controls. Therefore, the sampling device DBSV proved to be suitable for the determination of PEth concentrations in blood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Harmful Alcohol use is frequent among opioid dependents patients undergoing agonist maintenance treatment. The objective assessment of harmful alcohol use can be done using laboratory measures of serum biomarkers. For community-based patients, there is often a requirement of an alternative method due to lack of onsite laboratory services. The aim of the study was to examine filter paper as a matrix to measure serum biomarkers of harmful alcohol use. Methods: The initial phase involved standardization of the filter-paper-based assay. Conditions were optimised for extraction and estimation of alcohol biomarkers (Aspartate Aminotransferase; AST, Alanine Aminotransferase; ALT, Gamma Glutamyl transferase; GGT and Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin; CDT) from the filter paper. For clinical validation, serum samples were collected from community clinics. Biomarker levels obtained from both the methods were correlated using linear regression analysis. Limits of agreement between the two methods was estimated using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results: The extraction of enzymes (AST, ALT and GGT) from filter paper was carried out using the substrate buffer available with the reagent kit (Randox, UK). CDT was readily extracted from filter paper using deionised water. Serum biomarker levels measured from samples collected from community clinics correlated well with filter paper extracted levels (ICC 0.97-0.99). More than 90% of alcohol biomarker levels were recovered from the filter paper matrix using this method. Conclusion: Filter paper has the potential to be used as a matrix to objectively measure alcohol biomarkers among opioid-dependent patients from community settings lacking onsite laboratory facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Childhood malnutrition in India remains among the highest in the world. Adult alcohol consumption and severe malnutrition have increased among indigenous people in South India. However, the association between them is poorly understood., Objectives: We aimed to evaluate this association, which could help design better intervention strategies., Methods: This case-control observational study was conducted in the Nilgiri district in South India. Cases included children aged 1-5 years with moderate malnutrition. Controls were defined as children in the same age group with normal weight-for-age. A questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, socioeconomic status (SES), and parental education. The WHO Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire was used to estimate parental alcohol use. Health-care workers collected data from within the community., Results: The baseline demographics of the children in the control (n = 250) and case groups (n = 177) were similar. Paternal age and AUDIT scores were not different in the two groups. SES was lower in the malnourished group, while maternal education among cases was significantly lower. Maternal and paternal education were associated with childhood malnutrition (odds ratio [OR]: 0.728 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.583-0.903] and OR: 0.753 [95% CI: 0.589-0.957], respectively). After adjustment for covariates, paternal alcohol use was associated with a higher risk of malnutrition (OR: 1.56 [95% CI: 1.00-2.47]), which SES partly mediated., Conclusion: Paternal alcohol consumption is associated with childhood malnutrition, partially mediated by lower SES. Furthermore, lower SES appeared to be strongly associated with paternal alcohol consumption., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Public Health.)

Objectives: There is insufficient evidence about the determinants of alcohol use amongst young people in India and other low-and middle-income countries, despite alcohol's high contribution to disease burden and increasing consumption in this population. We aimed to identify and estimate the determinants of alcohol use in a representative sample of 2716 young men from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who participated in the 'Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults' (UDAYA) study., Methods: First, we developed an exploratory conceptual framework of potential alcohol use determinants in the study settings based on available literature. We then estimated the effects of 35 potential alcohol use determinants identified in the conceptual framework (including 14 latent factors identified through exploratory factor analysis) on any alcohol use in the past 3 years and regular alcohol use amongst past three-year drinkers, using mixed-effects logistic models. The determinants explored were operationalised using longitudinal data from the UDAYA study., Results: Our adjusted models identified 18 determinants for past 3-year alcohol use and 12 determinants for regular use. Distal determinants (e.g., socioeconomic status), intermediate determinants (e.g., parental alcohol use, media use), and proximal determinants (e.g., emotional regulation, early tobacco use) were identified. Geographical variations in both outcomes indicate potential differences in unmeasured community-level determinants (e.g., alcohol availability and acceptability)., Conclusions: Our findings extend the generalizability of several known determinants across settings, yet highlight the importance of addressing alcohol use in young people as a complex and context-dependent issue. Many identified determinants (e.g., education, media use, poor parental support, early tobacco use) are amenable to intervention through multi-sectoral prevention programs/policies. Such determinants should be the focus of ongoing policy/intervention development efforts in the region, and our revised conceptual framework may inform further research in India or similar South Asian settings., (© 2023 The Authors Tropical Medicine & International Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an emerging noninvasive brain neuromodulation technique aimed at relieving symptoms associated with psychiatric disorders, including addiction. The goal of the present study was to better identify which phase of alcohol-related behavior (hedonic effect, behavioral sensitization, self-administration, or motivation to obtain the drug) might be modulated by repeated anodal tDCS over the frontal cortex (0.2 mA, 20 min, twice a day for 5 consecutive days), using female mice as a model. Our data showed that tDCS did not modulate the hedonic effects of ethanol as assessed by a conditioned place preference test (CPP) or the expression of ethanol-induced behavioral sensitization. Interestingly, tDCS robustly reduced reacquisition of ethanol consumption (50% decrease) following extinction of self-administration in an operant paradigm. Furthermore, tDCS significantly decreased motivation to drink ethanol on a progressive ratio schedule (30% decrease). Taken together, our results show a dissociation between the effects of tDCS on "liking" (hedonic aspect; no effect in the CPP) and "wanting" (motivation; decreased consumption on a progressive ratio schedule). Our tDCS procedure in rodents will allow us to better understand its mechanisms of action in order to accelerate its use as a complementary and innovative tool to help alcohol-dependent patients maintain abstinence or reduce ethanol intake., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The acute effects of alcohol consumption are a major risk factor for suicide. Positive blood alcohol concentrations are present in almost one-third of all suicides at time of death. These suicides are defined as alcohol-related suicides. This cross-sectional study examines the geospatial distribution/clustering of high proportions of alcohol-related suicides and reports on socioeconomic and demographic risk factors., Methods: National Coronial Information System (NCIS) data were used to calculate proportions of suicides with alcohol present at the time of death for each level 3 statistical areas (SA3) in Australia. A density analysis and hotspot cluster analysis were used to visualise and establish statistically significant clustering of areas with higher (hotspots) and lower (coldspots) proportions. Subsequently, socioeconomic and demographic risk factors for alcohol use and suicide were reported on for hot and cold spots., Results: Significant clustering of areas with higher proportions of alcohol-related suicide occurred in northern Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, as well as inland New South Wales and inland Queensland. Clustering of SA3s with significantly lower proportions occurred in major city and inner regional Sydney and Melbourne. Conclusion and implications for public health: Results from this study identify areas in which prevention strategies should target alcohol use and can be used to inform prevention strategy design. Additionally, hotspots and coldspots identified in this study can be used for further analysis to better understand contextual risk factors for alcohol-related suicide., (© 2021 The Authors.)

The paper examines the impact of alcoholism on the values of family relationships and highlights the destructive consequences of alcohol abuse. The paper uses qualitative research methods and focuses on two distinct groups: middle-aged women from well-off families and children from children's homes who have experienced alcoholism from a family member. The paper reveals the pervasive consequences of parental alcohol abuse, such as low self-esteem, emotional instability and difficulties in establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. The findings highlight the urgent need for greater awareness and prevention efforts regarding the broader social and familial impacts of alcohol consumption. This research contributes to the understanding of relational dynamics in families affected by alcoholism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although overall alcohol consumption is known to increase the risk of a number of cancers internationally, evidence for Australia and evidence regarding the pattern of drinking and cancer risk is limited., Methods: Adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for cancer risk in relation to overall alcohol consumption (drinks/week) and pattern of drinking were calculated using Cox proportional hazard regressions for 226,162 participants aged ≥45 years (2006-2009) in the 45 and Up Study, an Australian prospective cohort study. Incident primary cancer cases were ascertained by linkage to the New South Wales Cancer Registry to 2013 by the Centre for Health Record Linkage., Results: Over a median of 5.4 years, 17,332 cancers were diagnosed. Increasing levels of alcohol intake were associated with increased risk of cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (1.19; 1.10-1.29), mouth and pharynx (1.18; 1.08-1.29), oesophagus (1.22; 1.04-1.43), colorectum (1.09; 1.04-1.15), colon (1.13; 1.06-1.20), liver (1.22; 1.04-1.44) and breast (1.11; 1.02-1.21). Breast cancer risk was marginally associated with drinking pattern, with higher risk when intake was concentrated on 1-3 days/week compared to the same amount spread over 4-7 days (P interaction  = 0.049)., Conclusions: Alcohol consumption confers a significant risk of cancer, and drinking pattern may be independently related to breast cancer risk.

Background Despite research highlighting the role of alcohol in military life, specifically in relation to mental health and certain combat experiences, there is no synthesised evidence looking at the relationship between military service and alcohol use. Aims To synthesize and examine evidence exploring the relationship between military service and alcohol use. Methods Six databases were examined across a 10-year period. Papers were included if they involved a military population and focused on alcohol use. From 4046 papers identified, 29 papers were included in the review. Results Military characteristics and experience were linked to high levels of alcohol use across military populations. Societal and cultural factors also played a role in alcohol use in military populations. Predatory behaviour of alcohol establishments, pressures to conform, an acceptance of alcohol use, and the role of religious services and military affiliated social networks were all considered. Excessive drinking impacted physical and mental health. Those diagnosed with PTSD and associated symptoms appeared to have greater alcohol use. Conclusions This review identified certain characteristics and experiences of military service that are associated with higher levels of alcohol use. It is important to identify risk factors for alcohol misuse to develop appropriate policy, targeting prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the convergence of individual findings relating to psychological distress, alcohol use and social network (SN) to identify their associated clusters within Australian mineworkers., Methods: This study used cross-sectional survey data from 3,056 participants across 12 Australian mines. Latent class analysis used the scores of Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Social Network Index., Results: Class 1 (moderate to very high psychological distress, low SN score and low to moderate AUDIT) included 39% (n=1,178) participants and class 2 (low to moderate psychological distress and AUDIT and very high SN) composed of 61% (n=1,873) participants. Class 1 was associated with younger age (OR=0.65, 95%CI=0.53-0.81), being a current smoker (OR=1.45, 95%CI=1.18-1.79), and reporting a history of anxiety (OR=3.00, 95%CI=2.23-4.05) and/or depression (OR=2.18, 95%CI=1.65-2.90)., Conclusions: These findings highlight the challenges the mining sector faces regarding the welfare of its employees. Implications for public health: Modifiable work factors associated with lower social networks and higher psychological distress need addressing at an individual and industry level through targeted and specifically tailored multi-component interventions., (© 2020 The Authors.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on the incidence of colon cancer in adults with metabolic syndrome., Methods: This study employed a longitudinal study design and utilized secondary data drawn from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). The data of a sample of 2,327 adults with metabolic syndrome tracked every two years from 2001 to 2014 were used in this study. Statistical data analyses of the frequency, number of cases per 100,000 person-years, log-rank test, Kaplan-Meier curve, and Cox's proportional hazards regression were performed using IBM SPSS statistics version 24., Results: During the observation period, the number of colon cancer cases was 46, and the total person-years were 252,444. The incidence of colon cancer was higher in current, over 10 pack-year smokers when compared to non-smokers (hazard ratio=3.38, 95% confidence interval=1.09~8.42)., Conclusion: Excessive and long-term smoking should be avoided to prevent colon cancer, especially in adults with metabolic syndrome, since it might exacerbate the risk factors of colon cancer. Particularly, health professionals need to provide individualized smoking cessation interventions to those at high risk of colon cancer., Competing Interests: Data in this study were from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES; 4851-302). National Research Institute of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ministry for Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea., (© 2019 Korean Society of Nursing Science.)

Introduction and aim. Alcohol is a factor that promotes injury- related death - poisoning, vehicle accidents, falls, drownings. Moreover, alcohol consumption contributes to the increase in suicide rate - blood alcohol content is present in many cases. Occasionally, its concentration is so high that it is questionable whether it is possible to commit a suicide or drive with such a high BAC. The study aimed to investigate if individuals with BAC over 3.5‰ can remain active and die of other reason than alcohol intoxication. Material and methods. Retrospective analysis of sectional protocols of people with BAC over 3.5‰ who did not die because of lethal blood concentration of alcohol from the Department of Forensic Medicine in Cracow in the years 2014-2022 was conducted. After finding cases with BAC over 3.5‰ who did not die as a result of alcohol intoxication, the analysis of the causes of their deaths was performed. Results. Having excluded subjects that did not meet our requirements, we obtained 43 cases in total -- 27 pedestrians hit by some vehicle, 4 drivers, 5 murdered victims, 5 died by hanging and 2 by falling from a height. We also searched for the highest possible BAC in general as well as in particular groups that enabled them remain active, and so we documented a pedestrian with BAC 4.8‰ who died in a road accident while crossing the road. Conclusion. Intoxicated people with BAC over 3.5‰ are able to perform different kinds of activities, which eventually become the cause of their death. Some people are still able to walk, hang themselves or even drive a car. The vast majority of our cases died in car accidents. The results of our research may thus undermine the claim that people with high blood alcohol levels are not capable of committing suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of fast sensory analysis techniques is almost mandatory to meet the demand of the food and beverages industry, which requires quick responses that do not involve the investment of many resources. The increase in demand for sensory services, and the need for new methods that provide quick and useful data to the beverages industry, has caused a significant rise in sensory-related research. Sensory science is a young discipline that has proven to be very useful for the food and beverage industry, not only to guarantee the quality of the organoleptic properties of raw materials and processed foods/beverages, but also to increase the probability of the success of new developments, to understand consumer response and detect potential consumer niches, and to monitor competitors. [Extracted from the article]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the articles related to alcohol consumption model under alcohol control policies by Kari Poikolainen in the previous issues of the periodical.

Background: Alcohol is often consumed in a social context. We aim to investigate whether social mobile sensing is associated with real-world social interactions and alcohol consumption. In addition, we investigate how social restriction policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic have influenced these associations., Methods: We conducted a smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study for 7 days over a 213-day period from 8 August 2020 to 9 March 2021 in Germany, including both no-lockdown and lockdown stages. Participants used a smartphone application which passively collects data on social behavior (e.g., app usage, phone calls, SMS). Moreover, we assessed real-world social interactions and alcohol consumption via daily questionnaires., Results: We found that each one-hour increase in social media usage was associated with a 40.2% decrease in the average number of drinks consumed. Mediation analysis suggested that social media usage decreases alcohol intake through decreased real-world social interactions. Notably, we did not find that any significant influence of the lockdown stage on the association between social mobile sensing and alcohol intake., Conclusions: Our study suggests that people who use more social media drink less, likely due to reduced face-to-face social interactions. This highlights the potential of social mobile sensing as an objective measure of social activity and its implications for understanding alcohol consumption behavior., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Biallelic variants in PPA2 gene cause a rare but lethal mitochondrial disorder. We describe the first four cases reported in Spain of PPA2 disease in two unrelated families. We have conducted a revision of the clinical history, necropsies, and postmortem genetic testing from probands, and clinical evaluation, genetic testing and blood transcript analysis in family members. All the cases harbored biallelic PPA2 variants in compound heterozygous status. Two brothers from family 1 suffered sudden death after a small first intake of alcohol in 2013 and 2022. The sister remains alive but affected with cardiomyopathy, extensive scar on cardiac imaging, and high sensitivity to alcohol intake. The three siblings carried PPA2 c.290A > G (p.Glu97Gly) novel missense variant and PPA2 c.513C > T (p.Cys171 = ) altering splicing site variant, both probably leading to mRNA degradation based on in-silico and transcript analyses. A teenager from family 2 suffered sudden death after a small intake of alcohol in 2018 and carried PPA2 c.683C > T (p.Pro228Leu) missense and PPA2 c.980_983del (p.Gln327fs) novel frameshift variant, both probably leading to abnormal protein structure. All cases were asymptomatic until adolescence. Furthermore, the sister in family 1 has survived as an asymptomatic adult. PPA2 disease can manifest as cardiac arrest in the young, especially after alcohol exposure. Our results show that PPA2 deficiency can be related to different pathogenicity mechanisms such as abnormal protein structure but also mRNA decay caused by synonymous or missense variants. Strict avoidance of alcohol consumption and early defibrillator implantation might prevent lethal arrhythmias in patients at risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Almost a third of car accidents involve driving after alcohol consumption. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) may offer accident-prevention benefits, but at current automation levels, drivers must still perform manual driving tasks when automated systems fail. Therefore, understanding how alcohol affects driving in both manual and automated contexts offers insight into the role of future vehicle design in mediating crash risks for alcohol-impaired driving., Method: This study conducted a systematic review on alcohol effects on manual and automated (takeover) driving performance. Fifty-three articles from eight databases were analyzed, with findings structured based on the information processing model, which can be extended to the AV takeover model., Results: The literature indicates that different Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels affect driving skills essential for traffic safety at various information processing stages, such as delayed reacting time, impaired cognitive abilities, and hindered execution of driving tasks. Additionally, the driver's driving experience, drinking habits, and external driving environment play important roles in influencing driving performance., Conclusions: Future work is needed to examine the effects of alcohol on driving performance, particularly in AVs and takeover situations, and to develop driver monitoring systems., Practical Applications: Findings from this review can inform future experiments, AV technology design, and the development of driver state monitoring systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Controversy persists regarding the causal relationship between Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and Rosacea. This paper employs the Mendelian randomization (MR) method to elucidate the correlation between Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and Rosacea. The aim is to contribute valuable insights to aid in the prevention and early treatment of Rosacea., Method: Summary datasets for cigarette smoking parameters (Cigarettes smoked per day, Smoking status: Previous, smoking status: Current) and alcohol consumption (Alcoholic drinks per week) were selected alongside data for Rosacea from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The Two-sample MR method was employed to analyze the correlation between cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and Rosacea. Various MR analysis methods, including inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR-Egger, Simple Mode, Weighted Mode, and Weighted Median, were chosen. IVW served as the primary analysis method., Results: The results indicate a significant negative association between Cigarettes smoked per day and Rosacea. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was observed between Smoking status: Previous and Rosacea. However, no significant associations were found between Smoking status: Current, Alcoholic drinks per week, and Rosacea., Conclusion: This study provides further clarity on the association between cigarette smoking, drinking, and Rosacea through a two-sample MR analysis. Notably, the number of cigarettes smoked per day appears to be associated with a reduced incidence of Rosacea, while cigarette smoking cessation may increase the risk. Surprisingly, alcohol consumption does not emerge as a significant risk factor for Rosacea. These findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between lifestyle factors and the occurrence of Rosacea, offering potential insights for preventive measures and early intervention., (© 2024 The Author(s). Skin Research and Technology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Simple Summary: Diet plays an important role in modifying cancer risk and may improve outcomes for patients during and after cancer treatment. The goals of this bibliometric review were to characterize studies, highlight emerging trends, and identify gaps in the literature regarding diet and cancer. We found that while previous publications have focused on the impact of high-fat diets and alcohol on common cancers such as breast, colorectal, and liver, there are far fewer publications describing the role of diet in less prevalent cancers. Areas of emerging interest include studies on nutrient timing, spices, and pre- and probiotics. Diet plays a critical role for patients across the cancer continuum. The World Cancer Research Fund International and the American Cancer Society have published evidence supporting the role of nutrition in cancer prevention. We conducted an analysis of the literature on dietary nutrients and cancer to uncover opportunities for future research. The objective of the bibliometric analysis was to describe trends in peer-reviewed publications on dietary components and cancer and to highlight research gaps. PubMed was queried for manuscripts with diet- and cancer-related keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms. Metadata covering 99,784 publications from 6469 journals were analyzed to identify trends since 1970 on diet topics across 19 tumor types. Publications focused largely on breast, colorectal, and liver cancer, with fewer papers linking diet with other cancers such as brain, gallbladder, or ovarian. With respect to "unhealthy" diets, many publications focused on high-fat diets and alcohol consumption. The largest numbers of publications related to "healthy" diets examined the Mediterranean diet and the consumption of fruits and vegetables. These findings highlight the need for additional research focused on under-investigated cancers and dietary components, as well as dietary studies during cancer therapy and post-therapy, which may help to prolong survivorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Consumers have difficulty understanding alcoholic units and low risk drinking guidelines (LRDG). Labelling may improve comprehension. The aims of this rapid evidence review were to establish the effectiveness of on-bottle labelling for (i) improving comprehension of health risks; (ii) improving comprehension of unit and/or standard drink information and/or LRDG, and (iii) reducing self-reported intentions to drink/actual drinking. Methods: Electronic database searches were carried out (January 2008-November 2018 inclusive). Papers were included if they were: published in English; from an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development country; an experimental/quasi-experimental design. Papers were assessed for quality using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment tool. Ten papers were included. Most studies were moderate quality (n = 7). Results: Five themes emerged: comprehension of health risks; self-reported drinking intentions; comprehension of unit/standard drink information and/or LRDG; outcome expectancies; and label attention. Labelling can improve awareness, particularly of health harms, but is unlikely to change behaviour. Improved comprehension was greatest for labels with unit information and LRDG. Conclusions: Alcohol labelling can be effective in improving people's comprehension of the health risks involved in drinking alcohol enabling them to make informed consumption decisions, and perhaps thereby provide a route to changing behaviour. Thus, effective alcohol labelling is an intervention that can be added to the broader suite of policy options. That being said, the literature reviewed here suggests that the specific format of the label matters, so careful consideration must be given to the design and placement of labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary reflects on the strengths of the paper by Warde et al. entitled "Situated drinking: the association between eating and alcohol consumption in Great Britain". It suggests that practice-theoretical approaches towards studying contemporary connections between foods, food events and alcoholic drinks provides an excellent basis for overcoming the analytical limits of fields such as food studies, drinks studies, alcohol studies and related areas. This is especially so if Warde et al.'s quantitative methodology were to be yoked to two further sources of inspiration, namely Mary Douglas's structuralist analysis of food combinations within food events and Stephen Mennell's utilisation of the concepts and concerns of Norbert Elias to produce a systematic historical sociology of food. An extended inter-paradigmatic approach to the study of how alcoholic drinks relate to foods and eating practices emerges as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol consumption during pregnancy, even at low doses, may damage the fetus. Pregnant women tend to underreport their alcohol consumption generating the need for sensitive and specific biomarkers, among which PEth has emerged due to its high specificity and possibility to be measured in both maternal and neonatal blood. The aim of this study is to systematically review the latest 20 years of literature for depicting the state of the art, the limitations, and the prospects of PEth for estimating alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Materials and methods: A systematic search, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, of the latest 20 years of literature through "MeSH" and "free-text" protocols in the databases PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science, with time limits 1 January 2002–1 March 2022, was performed. The inclusion criteria were as follows: PEth used for detecting alcohol consumption during pregnancy, quantified in blood through liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and full texts in the English language. Opinion papers, editorials, and narrative reviews were excluded. Results: Sixteen (16) papers were included in the present review (0.81% of total retrieved records). All the included records were original articles, of which there were seven prospective cohort/longitudinal studies, six cross-sectional studies, two observational-descriptive studies, and one retrospective study. All studies assayed PEth in at least one biological matrix; seven (7) studies quantified PEth in maternal blood, seven studies in newborn blood, and only two studies in both maternal and neonatal blood. In several included papers, PEth proved more sensitive than self-reports for identifying pregnant women with an active alcohol intake with the diagnostic efficiency improving with the increase of the maternal alcohol intake. Conclusions: Further studies, performed on wider and well-stratified populations, are needed to drive any definitive conclusion. PEth is a promising marker for monitoring alcohol use in pregnancy; however, at the present time, its use is still limited mainly by the absence of a globally agreed interpretative cut-off, the paucity of data regarding its specificity/sensitivity, and the lack of standardization on the diagnostic efficiency of the different isoforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol is a favorite psychoactive substance of Canadians. It is also a leading risk factor for death and disability, playing a causal role in a broad spectrum of health and social issues. Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity is a collaborative, integrative review of the scientific literature. This paper describes the epidemiology of alcohol use and current state of alcohol policy in Canada, best practices in policy identified by the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity , and the implications for the development of effective alcohol policy in Canada. Best practices - strongly supported by the evidence, highly effective in reducing harm, and relatively low-cost to implement - have been identified. Measures that control affordability, limit availability, and restrict marketing would reduce population levels of alcohol consumption and the burden of disease attributable to it., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Crépault, Naimi, Rehm, Shield, Wells, Wettlaufer and Babor.)

Objective: This study aims to: 1) explore how alcohol and alcohol harm are framed in New Zealand national policy, strategy, and action plan documents; and 2) examine how these documents align with the WHO SAFER framework., Methods: Keyword searches across government websites and Google were conducted in January 2021. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to all identified documents, resulting in 22 being included for analysis in this study. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis of those documents was performed., Results: Our inductive thematic analysis identified three themes, of which one is detailed in this study: 'Location of responsibility for addressing alcohol harms' with a focus on individuals and non-specific government agencies. Thematic results from the deductive analysis found that the most consistently referenced SAFER policies included brief interventions (68% of documents), followed by drink driving measures (45%), alcohol marketing (36%), alcohol availability (27%), and alcohol price (23%). The conversion rate from a document mentioning a SAFER framework policy area to making specific policy recommendations was usually less than or around 50%., Conclusions: The lack of alignment between New Zealand alcohol policy and the SAFER framework can be partially attributable to the absence of an updated national alcohol strategy (NAS). An updated NAS should identify responsible agencies, create a systematic monitoring and evaluation mechanism, and be consistent with the WHO SAFER framework., Implications for Public Health: The analysis supports the need to update a national alcohol strategy to guide alcohol policy development., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)