Alcohol

Alcohol

It is the world's most popular recreational drug, available to adults legally and widely used for pleasure and relaxation with no consequences.

Ethanol

A substance of abuse, chronic drinking leads to dependence and craving for alcohol, with serious consequences for the individual and society.

Overconsumption of alcohol

_____ is frequently a catalyst and contributing factor in violent crimes such as physical and sexual assault and homicide.

psychoactive substance

In forensic examinations of unnatural deaths, alcohol ranks as the most common ______ found.

blood-alcohol concentration (BAC)

It is also necessary to convert a person's ______ into the amount of alcohol consumed.

Retrograde Extrapolation

When prosecuting drunk drivers, an investigator might ask an expert to extrapolate a person's blood alcohol content (BAC) from when they were sampled to an earlier time, such as when they were driving.

fermentation

Ethanol is produced naturally in the body. This happens when _____ of carbohydrates in the gut or during some minor biochemical reactions happens.

Absorption

It is the process by which a drug enters the bloodstream and travels to all organs, fluids, and tissues in the body.

upper small intestine

Alcohol is first absorbed in the stomach, but the _______ absorbs it much more quickly.

pyloric sphincter

When gastric emptying is quick, the _____ is less likely to block the passage of alcohol into the small intestines, which speeds up absorption.

liver

The metabolism of ethanol occurs mainly in the ______, where it is released as energy in the form of heat.

Acetaldehyde

It is created during the enzymatic oxidation of ethanol.

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases

A large family of proteins being responsible for oxidation and reduction of xenobiotics — that might enter the body, these includes atmospheric pollutants, industrial solvents, as well as diverse pharmaceutical agents.

Biochemical markers

These can be used to detect organ and tissue damage caused by heavy drinking so that treatment can begin before liver cirrhosis and death occur.

Mean corpuscular volume (MCV)

Red blood cell enlargement, another commonly used marker of chronic drinking in combination with enzyme markers.

Carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT)

It is another marker of excessive drinking that is used in clinical medicine but also has forensic applications due to its high sensitivity and specificity.

Transferrin

A plasma protein synthesized and secreted by the liver that serves to transport iron in the body.

Dispositional tolerance

The first and most basic type of tolerance involves altered ethanol absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion during chronic treatment.

Metabolic tolerance

This is faster elimination of certain drugs from the body after chronic exposure.

Acute tolerance

It develops during a single exposure to ethanol.

After consuming a known amount of ethanol, the subjective and objective levels of intoxication vary with the passage of time.

Mellanby effect

Acute tolerance to alcohol is also referred to as the _______.

Chronic tolerance

It is a more gradual process that results in a lessening intoxicating effect after several days or weeks of constant heavy drinking without a period of abstinence.

Behavioral/Functional tolerance

The type of tolerance that develops after long-term use of alcohol, it relates to an altered sensitivity of the brain to the effects of the drug.