Chapter 9: Alcohol

In most commercial beers sold in the United States, the alcohol content is about...

4 percent.

Although the exact mechanisms for alcohol's action in the brain are not completely understood, it is now believed that the most important of its many effects is...

enhancing GABA's inhibitory effects.

In regular alcohol consumers, lipids get accumulated in the liver and are stored as small droplets in liver cells and this condition is known as...

fatty liver.

If one member of a pair of identical twins is dependent on alcohol, the other twin...

has about a 50 percent chance of also being dependent on alcohol.

Total per-capita consumption of alcohol...

has declined considerably from its peak in 1981.

Cirrhosis of the liver can result from drinking alcohol...

in large amounts (a pint of whiskey a day) for ten years or more.

Alcohol is removed by the [blank] at a constant rate of 0.25 to 0.30 ounce of ethanol per hour.

liver

Although national prohibition of alcohol did reduce alcohol-related deaths and hospitalizations, it was repealed partly because of the growth of organized crim and partly because...

of a desire to reduce the income tax.

One major factor determining individual differences in BAC after drinking alcohol is...

proportion of body fat.

Breath samples to determine BAC...

provide an accurate indicator of BAC across a wide range.

At a BAC of 0.08, the relative risk of being involved in a fatal automobile crash is about...

three times as great as for a sober driver.

The alcoholic content of beverages is indicated by the term "proof," which is...

twice the percentage of alcohol.

In a typical person, intoxication to the point of staggering and greatly impaired sensory perception occurs at about what BAC?

0.25 percent

What is the major factor determining the rate of alcohol metabolism in the human body?

The activity of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase.

What are the signs of alcohol poisoning?

Breathing rate is slow or irregular, skin is cold and clammy, and vomiting and then loss of consciouness.

What substance speeds up the absorption of alcohol?

Carbonated liquids

Which state has the highest per-capita sales of alcohol?

New Hampshire

What is a physiological effect of alcohol consumption?

Release of adrenal corticosteroids and catecholamines from the adrenal medulla.

Research studies in which half the participants are told they are drinking alcohol and half are not, with half of each group actually receiving alcohol and half are not, are using the [blank] design.

balanced placebo

Americans drink most of their alcohol in the form of...

beer.