Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development

by: Michael Saunders

The National Institutes of Health, also referred to as NIH, is an agency that is operating under the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The NIH is primarily responsible for ensuring all of the country's biomedical and health-related research studies. The attempts of the NIH are always geared towards the attainment of their mission, which is to "seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability."

In line with this mission, the National Institutes of Health, in close cooperation with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has established the Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development Project.

The Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development Project intends to determine the effects of adolescent binge drinking on the synaptic maturation and myelin formation in the a person's developing brain.

The NIH and NIAAA plans to achieve this by soliciting exploratory or developmental research grant proposals that would potentially help in identifying the long-term consequences of adolescent binge drinking in the maturation of brain structure and its functions.

In addition, the NIH and NIAAA will utilize this research studies on animal models in order to unravel the underlying effects of excessive alcohol consumption on genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms.

The scope of the study will include, but is not necessarily limited to:

1) The anatomical or functional studies on cortical synapse pruning or refinement in models of adolescent binge drinking.

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Effects of Adolescent Binge Drinking on Brain Development
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About The Author Michael Saunders is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com one the the most comprehensive Websites offering information on government grants and federal government programs. He also maintains Websites providing resources on environmental grants and grants for youth programs.

Additional Resources

category - Health Grants

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The National Institutes of Health has recently established the Shared Instrumentation Grant Program wherein they intend to solicit applications from NIH-supported research proposing to upgrade or purchase a single piece of expensive instrumentation (useful to the field of science and technology) that at a minimum costs $100,000.

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Lifespan Respite Care Program - Technical Assistance Resource Center
In keeping with this mission, the Administration on Aging has recently announced the constitution of the Lifespan Respite Care Program - Technical Assistance Resource Center wherein it aims to invite applications for a competitive grant opportunity for implementing the requirements of the Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC) as authorized in the Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2006.

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In line with this mission, the Administration on Aging has recently established the Health Care Fraud Program Expansion and Senior Medical Patrol Capacity Building Grants in an attempt to boost the capacity of the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program to reach more Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, their families and caregivers, while focusing on fraud prevention and identification.

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Strategic Alliances for Medications Development to Treat Substance Use Disorder Program
The National Institutes of Health, in cooperation with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has recently established the Strategic Alliances for Medications Development to Treat Substance Use Disorder Program wherein both agencies seek to support the development of substance abuse drugs by leveraging the strengths of two or more organizations toward a common goal of medications development.

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