This study examines how the research community has considered alcohol industry involvement in science. It was anticipated at the outset that there would be few dedicated studies, so this review is designed to synthesise existing perspectives alcohol withdrawal as a preliminary investigation. The study focuses on the manifest rather than latent content of the articulated views, and accordingly adopts a thematic analysis using an inductive approach to the generation of themes 12.
- Botanical compounds with medicinal properties could also be dissolved in an alcoholic medium to be applied to the skin or imbibed.
- Chromic acid oxidizes primary alcohols to carboxylic acids, and it oxidizes secondary alcohols to ketones.
- Because OH is the functional group of all alcohols, we often represent alcohols by the general formula ROH, where R is an alkyl group.
- They are used as sweeteners and in making perfumes, are valuable intermediates in the synthesis of other compounds, and are among the most abundantly produced organic chemicals in industry.
- The hydrogen atoms are slightly positive because the bonding electrons are pulled toward the very electronegative oxygen atoms.
Data were extracted from all included records by both authors using direct capture of relevant text from materials via cut and paste with Microsoft Word and NVivo. Both authors coded all data separately at first, then met to discuss preliminary themes and their labelling, and subsequent rounds of coding. The intention was to make this process as inductive as possible, eschewing the use of any pre‐existing analytic categories.
Secondary alcohols
Alcohol consumption can have an impact not only on the incidence of diseases, injuries and other health conditions, but also on their outcomes and how these evolve over time. “That’s why people talk about having an increased tolerance to alcohol, because the liver has adapted to cope with it. This review identifies only three studies of bias in academic research comprising two narrative literature reviews of the various issues covered in this section 2, 3, and one meta analytic study 85. ‘That they [the alcohol industry] evaluate the evidence in the way that they do therefore appears to many impartial observers to be a manifestation of, or evidence for, the existence of the very conflict of interests that they deny’ 22.
Alcohol and the Brain
This is succinctly articulated by Chafetz 124 as a ‘good guys—bad guys’ narrative. Davies and Rotgers identify an implication; ‘that some research (“virtuous” research) is value‐free, uncompetitive and not conflicted, whereas “commercial” research is uniquely plagued by those things’ 127. Davies and Rotgers go on to articulate that such an approach is inherently divisive; ‘we fear an increasing number of witch‐hunts involving people whose research we do not like for ideological reasons that have nothing to do with their science’ 127.
Long-term Effects of Drinking
Such factors include social stratification (i.e., the probability of living in certain neighborhoods, which is higher for certain types of persons) and social selection (i.e., the probability that drinkers are more likely to move to certain types of neighborhoods). It remains unclear whether neighborhood disadvantage causes alcohol problems, and whether frequent drinkers a timeline for the restoration of cognitive abilities after quitting alcohol are in fact usually more attracted to certain neighborhoods (i.e., self-selection). Some studies have attempted to address these issues using propensity matching and time-sensitive indicators (Ahern et al. 2008). Future studies should take these challenges into consideration and address subgroup differences in alcohol use norms across race/ethnicity and gender.
Taking risks
Although ethanol is less toxic than methanol, it is nonetheless a poisonous substance, and many people die each year from ethanol poisoning. When someone is suffering from mild ethanol poisoning, the person is said to be intoxicated. Because animals often consume food that has fermented and contains ethanol, their bodies have developed methods to remove or detoxify ethanol before it can accumulate and poison the brain. One way the body detoxifies ethanol is to oxidize it, using an enzyme produced by the liver, alcohol dehydrogenase, or ADH.
They suggest that; ‘industry funding has become a contentious issue at some universities…because of the potential for conflict of interest’ 3. Others have suggested possible funding effects on prestigious universities 16, 58, 76. The energy released when these new hydrogen bonds form approximately compensates for the energy needed to break the original interactions.