Volume 9, Issue 2 Is Now Available!

NIAAA Spectrum Webzine

NIAAA Spectrum is an online Webzine published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It includes feature-length stories, new research findings from the field, image and data analyses, and interviews with NIAAA staff members and prominent alcohol researchers. The latest issue is now available. The full table of contents is presented below.

In This Issue

A New Approach to Improve Diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a highly heterogenous disorder, meaning affected individuals differ in their drinking patterns, motivations for drinking, and clinical signs and symptoms, as well as the neurobiological, genetic, and environmental factors that contribute to alcohol misuse. More...

Multisite Clinical Trial of Promising Drug Treatment for AUD Highlights Efforts of NIAAA’s Division of Medications Development

A new medication called ABT-436 that targets the brain’s stress systems may help reduce alcohol use in people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a recent study led by researchers in NIAAA’s extramural Division of Medications Development (DMD). More...

A Closer Look

Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a type of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, that is used to map white-matter pathways in a living brain.

Noteworthy

NIAAA Publishes New Strategic Plan

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Strategic Plan, 2017–2021, was released in spring 2017.

New Addiction Certification Available for Physicians

Beginning in fall 2017, physicians will have the opportunity to become certified in the subspecialty of addiction medicine.

News From the Field

Potential Barcode Identified for a Form of Alcoholic Liver Disease

NIAAA-supported researchers have discovered that extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by liver cells in a mouse model of alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) contain a micro ribonucleic acid (miRNA) signature detectable in the blood.

Cardiac Orienting Response in Infants Can Indicate Alcohol-Related Developmental Delay

A relatively simple and inexpensive test based on heart rate patterns has been shown to effectively identify infants at risk of developmental delay due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE).

Interventions Effective in Preventing Alcohol Use Among American Indian and Rural Youth

Community-based and individual-level prevention strategies are effective in reducing alcohol use among American Indian and other youth living in rural communities, an NIAAA-supported study reports.