A National Directory of Drug Treatment Centers and Alcohol Treatment Centers, Therapists and Specialists. A free, simple directory providing assistance and guidance for those seeking help regarding alcohol addiction, drug addiction, dependency and many other conditions that affect the mind, body and soul.
Call 800-580-9104 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Scientists Find Genes That Influence Brain Wave Patterns

Scientists have identified new genes and pathways that influence an individual’s typical pattern of brain electrical activity, a trait that may serve as a useful surrogate marker for more genetically complex traits and diseases. One of the genes, for example, was found to be associated with alcoholism.

Washington, D.C. – infoZine – A report of the findings by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“This important advance sustains our hope for the potential of genome-wide association techniques to further the study of complex genetic disorders such as alcoholism,” notes NIAAA Acting Director Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allow researchers to rapidly scan the complete set of DNA of many individuals to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or condition.

“One of the challenges in identifying the genes that underlie alcoholism is the large degree of genetic and environmental variability associated with the disease,” explains first author Colin A. Hodgkinson, Ph.D., a geneticist in the NIAAA Laboratory of Neurogenetics. “Such variability has impeded even GWAS efforts to identify alcoholism genes. To overcome those difficulties, we used GWAS techniques to search for genetic variants related to EEG, or brain wave, patterns in a comparatively small sample of several hundred Native American individuals.”

As unique as an individual’s fingerprints, EEG (electroencephalogram) patterns are highly heritable, and have been associated with alcoholism and other psychiatric disorders. The high degree of genetic similarity and common environmental exposure shared by the Native American individuals that comprised the study sample aided this search.

Working with David Goldman, M.D., chief of the NIAAA Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Dr. Hodgkinson and colleagues identified multiple genes that were associated with the amplitude, or height, of two of the four characteristic electrical frequencies that make up the wave patterns found in EEG recordings.

One of the genes, for example, was found to account for nearly 9 percent of the EEG theta wave variability seen in the Native American sample. Theta waves are relatively low-frequency brain waves, and previous studies have shown that their amplitude is altered among alcoholics. The researchers then showed that the same gene accounted for about 4 percent of theta wave variability in a sample of North American whites. The gene’s diminished effect among whites, they noted, was likely a reflection of the greater genetic variability present in that sample. In the same study Dr. Goldman’s group went on to show that genetic variation in one of the genes identified for theta wave variability was also associated with an altered risk for alcoholism.

“While our main findings are for genes that influence EEG wave patterns, this study represents an important step toward the use of EEG as a surrogate marker for alcoholism,” notes Dr. Goldman. “It also reveals new molecular pathways involved in addiction processes.”

source: Kansas City Info

More Treatment & Detox Articles

5 Ways Counseling Helps in Alcohol Addiction

alcohol abuse recovery

Alcohol addiction, much like any addiction, is partially physical and partially psychological in scope. As such, counseling is a vital part of the recovery process for those who are addicted to alcohol. There are many ways that counseling can help in alcohol addiction, this article focuses on just 5 of the most common ways that….

Continue reading

Don’t be a Christmas boozer loser warning

Drinkers in Leeds are being urged to examine how much booze they are knocking back over Christmas. Giant touch-screens have been erected at Leeds railway station to help people work out their alcohol consumption – and compare West Yorkshire’s drinking levels with the national average. Screens have also been put up in London, Glasgow and….

Continue reading

What to Expect at Eating Disorder Treatment Centers

eating disorder recovery

About Eating Disorders and Treatment Most eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia revolve around a person’s distorted body image of their self. People who have eating disorders commonly feel as though they are not attractive or need to lose weight, even if they are extremely below weight. Eating disorders can cause numerous health complications….

Continue reading

Underage drinking remains a serious problem

Underage drinking is a serious problem — and getting worse When police are called to a party or other event where minors are in possession of or have consumed alcoholic beverages, enforcement action is sometimes met with scorn or ridicule – not by the underage drinkers, but by a small minority of parents or guardians…..

Continue reading

Botellones, or binge-drinking parties, persist in Spain

The right of Spanish youths to party in the streets is in question. The “botellon” phenomenon, literally “big bottle,” attracts gatherings of youths to drink in parks and squares. People bring their own drinks: soda to mix with gin, vodka or whisky, and wine to make “calimocho,” a blend of coke and wine. Some botellones….

Continue reading

Where do calls go?

Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Calls to any general helpline (non-facility specific 1-8XX numbers) will be answered or returned by one of the treatment providers listed below, each of which is a paid advertiser:

ARK Behavioral Health

By calling the helpline you agree to the terms of use. We do not receive any commission or fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a caller chooses. There is no obligation to enter treatment.

I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE NOWI NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE NOW 800-580-9104Response time about 1 min | Response rate 100%
Who Answers?