Hunter–gatherer populations underwent a mass extinction in the Neolithic, and in present times face challenges such as explicit sedentarisation policies. An exception is in Nepal, where the nomadic Raute people receive monthly governmental individual payments. One consequence of the money transfers has been a significant increase in alcohol consumption, with nearly all individuals drinking industrially produced alcohol. Here we investigate the Raute demography based on a full census of 144 individuals. We show that the Raute exhibit the short life expectancies typical of other hunter–gatherer populations from Africa, Asia and America. Bayesian survival trajectory analysis demonstrated that heavy drinking by either parent substantially reduces offspring survival to age 15. Bayesian regressions revealed a significant effect of heavy drinking on maternal fertility by decreasing the number of living children and reducing the proportion of live children at the end of maternal reproductive life. Although the absence of data prior to monetary support precludes a direct assessment of long-term demographic trends, relatively stable population sizes over the last decades and a fertility rate close to the replacement rate rule out an imminent population crash. Further studies are required to elucidate the Rautes’ origins and relationship with other nomadic people in the region.

Evidence on the effectiveness and implementation of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions for men in humanitarian settings is limited. Moreover, engagement and retention of men in such interventions has been challenging. Adaptations may therefore be required to improve the appropriateness and acceptability of these interventions for men. This study conducted formative research and examined the feasibility of combining an MHPSS intervention, Self-Help Plus, with a brief intervention to reduce harmful alcohol use among refugee men in Uganda. We conducted a cluster randomized feasibility trial comparing the combined alcohol intervention and Self-Help Plus, Self-Help Plus alone and enhanced usual care. Participants were 168 South Sudanese refugee men in Rhino Settlement who reported moderate or high levels of psychological distress. Session attendance was adequate: all sessions had at least 69% of participants present. Participant outcome measures, including symptoms of psychological distress, functional impairment, self-defined problems, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms, overall substance use risk, substance specific risk (alcohol, cannabis, stimulants and sedatives) and well-being, were sensitive to change. A combined approach to addressing mental health and alcohol use appears feasible among men in refugee settings, but further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of combined interventions among men.

This editorial discusses a study by Day and colleagues, in which the authors investigated the prevalence of resolution of alcohol and other drug problems in the UK and compared people who resolved their problems with and without treatment.

A ‘Blackout Rage Gallon’ (borg) is a dangerous new alcohol consumption trend popular with young people. It involves creating a customised, individual alcoholic beverage by replacing half the water in a four litre (gallon) jug with alcohol (usually spirits), flavourings, electrolytes and caffeinated energy drinks or caffeine supplements. The most prevalent ‘recipe’ calls for the addition of 750ml of alcohol. The ‘blackout’ part of the name refers to the intent of one person to consume the borg in one session, thereby encouraging risky alcohol use. Indeed, there have been reports in popular media of multiple hospitalisations attributed to consumption of borgs at college events in the United States. Part of the attraction of the trend is to label the borg with a clever name, usually incorporating the term ‘borg’. The trend has gained traction recently on TikTok, which has become an important, yet unregulated, source of information for the public including young people(1). We investigated TikTok videos associated with the hashtag #borg to better understand this dangerous new phenomenon. We identified and analysed highly viewed TikTok videos (n = 105) for engagement, techniques, characteristics of featured individuals, and the portrayal of alcohol and risky drinking behaviours. Alcohol was visible in three quarters of the videos analysed (n = 78), and consumed in one third (n = 34). The average amount of alcohol present was well in excess of safe drinking guidelines (865ml) One quarter of videos (n = 25) promoted alleged benefits such as control of volume of consumption, protection from drink spiking, and mitigation of side effects due to addition of electrolytes and water. Alarmingly, only 9 videos included a warning about potential harms of the borg or alcohol in general. Indeed, videos discussing potential harms and benefits tended to encourage the use of borg, for example ‘I’m on board with the borg’. Our study found the borg TikTok trend encourages risky drinking in a fun and entertaining way, supporting previous studies where the majority of content was positively portraying a product or behaviour(2). As there is an association between viewing alcohol-related content on social media and alcohol use(3), there is an urgent need for social media content restrictions to limit the visibility of risky alcohol consumption, particularly to underage users.

The physical location of liquor stores near schools can strongly influence the chances of youth accessing and consuming alcohol(1). As children transit to and from school, it is feasible that the presence of liquor stores near schools could also increase their exposure to alcohol advertising. Cumulative exposure to advertising influences alcohol attitudes, intentions and alcohol use(2), so reducing children’s exposure to alcohol advertising is important to delay the initiation of drinking and reduce future harms. As this has not yet been investigated in Australia, the aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of a liquor store near a school was associated with an increased prevalence of outdoor alcohol advertising in Perth, Western Australia. We identified all outdoor alcohol advertising within a 500m radius (audit zone) of 64 randomly selected primary and secondary schools from low and high socio-economic areas across metropolitan Perth. We recorded the size, type, setting, and location of each advertisement during field data collection. Each zone was categorised by the presence or absence of at least one liquor store within the school audit zone, and results compared across these stratifications. Over half (56%) of the 64 school audit zones had at least one alcohol advertisement. On average, there were 5.9 alcohol advertisements per zone. School audit zones that contained a liquor store (59%) had over thirty times the average number of alcohol advertisements compared with audit zones that did not contain a liquor store (9.7 vs 0.3). The majority of all the alcohol advertisements identified (63%) were located outside a liquor outlet as opposed to other food businesses (2%), along the roadside (31%), on a bus shelter (3%) or on/outside another business (0.5%). Our findings that Perth schools with a liquor store nearby had more outdoor alcohol advertising within a 500m radius, compared with schools without a nearby liquor store, were independent of school type (primary or secondary) or the socio-economic status of the area. This poses significant concerns about the exposure of underage populations to outdoor alcohol advertising, and the resultant influence on alcohol use. These results underscore the necessity for policy interventions to mitigate children’s exposure to alcohol marketing, especially during the daily school commute, by regulating the location of liquor stores and alcohol promotion near schools. It will be important to incorporate the voices of children when developing future policies to assert their right to be consulted, heard and appropriately influence their environments.

The rate of sorption of methanol (MeOH), propan-2-ol (i-PrOH), and 2-methyl-propan-2-ol (t-BuOH) onto a Wyoming montmorillonite saturated with Al3+-, Cr3+-, or Fe3+-cations has been studied by isothermal gravimetry in the temperature range 18°–105°C using samples of differing weights and grain-size distributions. The rate of sorption for all the alcohols increased with decreasing sample and grain size, demonstrating that inter-, rather than intraparticle mass transfer was the rate-limiting process. Optimization of the sample parameters (2 mg sample of < 45-μm grain size, pretreated at 120°C yielded integral diffusion coefficients at 18°C of 1.1 × 10−4 m2/s for t-BuOH for the Cr3+-form and 2.0 × 10−14 m2/s for MeOH and i-PrOH for the Al3+-form. In general, the rate of alcohol sorption decreased as MeOH ≥ i-PrOH > t-BuOH, but no temperature dependence of the sorption rate was observed. The alcohol sorption rate was dependent on the cation present, with Fe3+ < Cr3+ < Al3+.

The reaction of 2-methyl pent-2-ene with primary alcohols (C1-C18) at 95°C over an Al-montmorillonite gave yields of 20–90% of ethers of the type R-O-C(CH3)2C3H7. Lower yields were produced if secondary alcohols were employed, and tertiary alcohols gave only a trace of this ether. When a variety of alkenes was reacted with butan-1-ol at 95°C over a similar catalyst, no reaction occurred unless the alkene was capable of forming a tertiary carbonium ion immediately upon protonation. In this case the product was the tertiary ether t-R-O-nC4H9. However, at a reaction temperature of 150°C a variety of products were formed including (1) ether by the attack of butanol on the carbonium ions produced either directly from protonation of the alkenes or by hydride shift from such an ion, (2) alkenes by the attack of n-C4H9+ ions (derived from protonation and dehydration of butanol) on the alkene, (3) di-(but-1-yl) ether by dehydration of the butanol, and (4) small amounts of alcohol by hydration of the alkene. The differences in reactivity below and above 100°C are related directly to the amount of water present in the interlayer space of the clay and the degree of acidity found there. Although the clay behaves as an acid catalyst, the reactions are far cleaner (more selective) than comparable reactions catalyzed by sulfuric acid.

The large amount of water in the interlamellar space of alkylammonium montmorillonites in aqueous solutions is not fixed by intercalated hexanol or octanol. The hydration of the NH3+-group and the filling of the empty spaces between the carbon chains are responsible for this phenomenon. Hydrogen bonds between the alcohols and the ammonium groups reduce the enthalpy of solution of hexanol and octanol in the interlamellar region at infinite dilution to +17.6 and +12.7 kJ/mole, respectively. Self-association of the alcohols further diminishes the enthalpy of solution at higher alcohol concentration. The interlamellar fixation of the RNH3 cations prevents a micellization as has been obtained in bulk solutions. At a given alcohol concentration smectic type aggregates, i.e., double layers of alcohol molecules, appear as shown by an increase of the basal spacing of the organo-clay complexes. The aggregate formation is favored by a longer chain length of both the cation and the alcohol.

Gibbsite samples of various particle sizes (0.2–80 μm) were heated at 250°C in a series of straight-chain primary alcohols under the autogenous vapor pressure of the alcohol (alcohothermal treatment of gibbsite). The treatment in ethanol yielded pure boehmite, the morphology of which was similar to that of the boehmite obtained by hydrothermal treatment of gibbsite. In middle-range alcohols, the boehmite yields were low (50% if 80 μm gibbsite was used), and the products were contaminated by a poorly crystallized phase, having a χ-alumina-like structure. The products preserved the morphology of the originating gibbsite, this feature being similar to the thermal dehydration of gibbsite. Complete conversion to boehmite was also attained in mineral oil (a hydrocarbon mixture, which was used as a limit of higher alcohol. The morphology of the boehmite formed in this medium was identical to that of the product prepared by thermal dehydration of gibbsite in a sealed bomb without a medium. If fine particle-size gibbsite was used, the yield of boehmite decreased and the yield of the poorly crystallized phase increased in all the media.

The reaction mechanisms may be discussed in terms of the reported mechanisms for the thermal and hydrothermal formations of boehmite from gibbsite. Thus, in lower alcohols boehmite formed by a dissolution-recrystallization mechanism, whereas in middle-range or higher alcohols it formed by intra-particle hydrothermal reaction mechanism proposed by de Boer and coworkers for the thermal dehydration of gibbsite. The difference in behavior in middle-range and higher alcohols can be explained in terms of the solubility of water in the medium: In the middle-range alcohols, water molecules formed by partial dehydration of gibbsite were removed from the gibbsite particles into the medium so that dehydration proceeded in a manner similiar to that of thermal dehydration, whereas in the higher alcohols, the low solubility of water in the medium allowed the water molecules to remain on the surface of the particles, thereby promoting the complete hydrothermal formation of boehmite.

The consumption of shaojiu or distilled liquor played a significant role in Qing legal culture and contributed to a rise in alcohol-related crimes. Qing officials’ attitudes towards intoxication not only influenced their judgments on many cases, but also reflected important trends of popular beliefs, notions, and practices that constituted shared knowledge and feelings between ordinary people and judges. This paper examines the transformation of Qing judicial practices and concerns regarding alcohol intoxication and crimes, arguing that specific cultural value and ideas that underpinned the public configuration of drinking behaviour during the Qing period contributed to a social pathology around intoxication. Due to the lack of a consistent interpretation of the effects of alcohol on the mind, early Qing officials tended to be lenient towards intoxicated offenders. However, mid-Qing law-makers and rulers recognized the serious administrative concerns associated with heavy drinking and began to conceptualize it as a serious social problem.