OBJECTIVE To analyze variables associated with recurrence of blood alcohol content (BAC)-related traffic violations among drivers in southern Brazil. METHOD This cross-sectional study included 12,204 driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offenders according to data provided by the Rio Grande do Sul state Transportation Department. Sociodemographic characteristics, license duration, license catego...

OBJECTIVES To understand alcohol use trends and alcohol-related harm among youth in South Africa (SA) between 1998 and 2008, and discuss implications for the current alcohol policy process. METHODS A review was conducted of 4 national prevalence and 2 sentinel surveillance studies. Data were extracted to Epi Info (version 7) and chi-square analyses undertaken. RESULTS. Lifetime alcohol use re...

We obtained data from the French Ministry of Transport on all road crashes during 1994-8 (640 670) in which at least one person was severely injured (confirmed by paramedics) or died. Crashes were attended by police officers, who completed a standard ministry questionnaire that covered time of incident, location, road and weather conditions, vehicles involved, mechanical defects, health of driv...

BACKGROUND Driving after the consumption of alcohol represents a significant problem globally. Individual prevention countermeasures such as personalized mobile app aimed at preventing such behavior are widespread, but there is little research on their accuracy and evidence base. There has been no known assessment investigating the quality of such apps. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine...

The purpose of this study was to establish and validate a driving simulator method for assessing drug effects on driving. To achieve this, we used ethanol as a positive control, and examined whether ethanol affects driving performance in the simulator, and whether these effects are consistent with performance during real driving on a test track, also under the influence of ethanol. Twenty healt...

AIMS To review the evidence on moderate alcohol intake and motor vehicle crash (MVC) risk, and discuss the possible public health tension in balancing risk reduction and increment with respect to moderate alcohol intake. METHOD A Medline review was conducted on moderate alcohol intake, MVC, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks. RESULT Moderate alcohol intake (24 g ethanol, two US standard...

The effect of chronic alcohol administration on blood pressure was investigated in 7-week-old Wistar rats. Tail-cuff blood pressure was significantly higher in rats who received 15% ethanol in drinking water than in control rats. Intracellular free calcium concentration of lymphocytes was increased, while magnesium concentration of erythrocyte, aorta, and skeletal muscle and erythrocyte ouabain...

Background Ridderinkhof and colleagues in 2002 [1] reported that moderate “acute” alcohol intake reduces the amplitude of the ‘error-related negativity, a negative deflection in the electroencephalogram associated with error commission in speeded response time tasks. Their work is however, subject to a great deal of criticism. To consider arrow flank tasks responses generally, as cognitive func...

Experimental studies in animals suggest that alcohol may influence pathophysiologic response to injury mechanisms. However, biological evidence for the alcohol-injury severity relationship provides conflicting results. The purpose of our retrospective cross-sectional study in 2,323 people was to assess whether blood alcohol level (BAC) adversely influences injury severity in victims of motor ve...

BACKGROUND Alcohol intoxication and overserving of alcohol at sporting events are of great concern, given the relationships between alcohol consumption, public disturbances, and violence. During recent years this matter has been on the agenda for Swedish policymakers, authorities and key stakeholders, with demands that actions be taken. There is promising potential for utilizing an environmenta...