Alcohol

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke publicly for the first time Monday about the breakup of his 20-year marriage, saying he was responsible for the split even as he refused to talk about what caused it. In a somber meeting with reporters at City Hall, Villaraigosa declined to answer questions about whether the break with his wife, Corina, was triggered by another romantic relationship.

Josh Hamilton said he was assured by doctors this week that the allergies that lead to occasional sinus and throat discomfort and dizziness were not caused or exacerbated by his heavy cocaine use from 2002-2005. "You have a hallway up the middle of your nose and sinus cavities on each side," said Hamilton, whose addiction to drugs and alcohol led to a ban from baseball from 2003-2005. "When you breathe air, it goes up and down the hallway. "Same thing when you do drugs, it goes up the hallway, not into the sinus cavities.

Those searching for answers to the question " Is medical marijuana good medicine? " will find few in Dr. David Sack's Times Op-Ed article.   On the one hand, Sack concedes, "Marijuana can effectively treat neuropathic pain, and it has been shown to improve appetite and reduce nausea," an acknowledgment substantiating the plant's therapeutic utility. However, he later warns that cannabis' ability to provide relief for certain other conditions, such as lupus and anxiety, remains unproven.

CAIRO - Hold the martini, please. With fanfare and cheers from Islamists, the first nonalcoholic hotel in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada has opened, a testament to a new political culture, which seeks at the very least a veneer of piety in a nation caught in the fury of upheaval. Egypt is mired in political and economic problems. It drifts from crisis to crisis and is headed for a dangerous summer of power outages and gas shortages. Such temporal annoyances, however, have not dissuaded conservative Islamists from trying to bring the nation in closer sync with the Koran.

Whether perusing the beauty and personal care products at Target or Whole Foods or shopping online at Sephora, consumers are increasingly encountering the phrase "paraben-free. " What exactly does paraben-free mean, and why might it matter? We take a closer look — including sussing out pretty makeup products that are paraben-free. What are parabens? Parabens are the most widely used preservatives in cosmetics and personal care products such as soap, moisturizers, shaving cream and underarm deodorant, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The band Shinedown has been around for more than a decade, selling more than 10 million albums worldwide. In 2012 they launched their fourth album, "Amaryllis," which made its debut at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. But the last year has been more than just about launching a new album for Brent Smith, the band's lead singer. After battling drug and alcohol addiction, becoming obese and being insulted on national television for his weight, a loving woman and the inspiration of his son and fans straightened him out, he said.

Is Mexico safe? That's the question that gets a lot of media attention. When six tourists from Spain were raped earlier this month in Acapulco, speculation began anew. But the tourism board in Cancun, 1,200 miles away and in a state for which the U.S. State Department has no advisory, wants the public to feel safe about visiting that region of the country, especially with the spring break vacation period looming. About 45,000 people visit during the spring travel season. “Last year Cancun welcomed almost 4 million visitors, and while none of our tourists were victims of violent crimes, we understand that safety is always a concern when traveling to a foreign country,” said Jesus Almagauer, chief executive of Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau.

South Pasadena High School was abuzz Friday afternoon with rumors of a party. By Saturday night, one of the school's most promising and popular students, who had attended that evening's party, lay unresponsive on the grass as friends tried frantically to revive him. Aydin Salek, 17, was pronounced dead at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena early Sunday. South Pasadena police said alcohol may have been involved in a collapse so swift and subtle that Salek's friends did not realize at first that anything was wrong.

In a study suggesting that red wine might be the next big thing in breast cancer prevention, a study has found that women who drank just under two servings of red wine daily experienced hormonal changes that mimic the effects of a drug used to prevent malignant breast tumors from coming back. The study, published Friday in the Journal of Women's Health, found that consuming the same amount of white wine did not have the same effect in premenopausal women participating in the study.

The powerful narcotic popped up on the cultural grid around the turn of the millennium. A Texas producer-remixer named DJ Screw paid homage to its woozy, heavy-lidded high by dramatically slowing down beats and vocals to replicate the drug's sleepwalker euphoria. Among Southern rappers, the chemical mixture - called "sizzurp" on the street - soon became as ubiquitous as gold jewelry. This wasn't some exotic new hallucinogen. In fact, it was usually mixed with fruit soda and sipped from oversized plastic foam cups.

Three decades ago, an east Texas singer named George Jones took on an impossibly melodramatic, shamelessly sentimental song about a man who desperately clutched at lost love until his dying breath. His 1980 recording of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" became one of the most revered songs in country music history. Singers Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard were known for the poetically crafted lyrics of their country standards. But Jones' anguish-drenched vocals elevated "He Stopped Loving Her Today" above its soap-opera lyrics in polls of the greatest country music songs.

"Home Run" is the heartfelt and deeply religious story of a baseball star's struggle with alcoholism and the Christian faith-based recovery group that gets him through. The first moments seem promising as images of a peaceful stretch of farm country fill up the screen. A weathered red barn sits in the distance next to a sprawling white farmhouse with a wraparound porch. But as the camera goes in close, something is wrong - the red is too red, the worn spots too worn. The metaphor is seriously overplayed and we are only in the first inning.

Running or swimming could help slow some of the damage done to the brain by alcohol, researchers found. Aerobic exercise was associated with less damage to specific parts of the brain's white matter, though the researchers could not say how much exercise would balance a night on the town. They reported their findings in an online preview of publication in September's journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. No surprise here, but the researchers also found the flip side to be the case: Heavy drinking combined with a sedentary life posed risks to brain health.

Remember that Jamie Foxx song "Blame It (On the Alcohol)"? If not, perhaps it's just as well, because scientists say that even the taste of beer (without the intoxicating effects of alcohol) can trigger that flow of striatal dopamine in the brain. The findings, published online Monday in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, "demonstrate for the first time the important role of an alcoholic drink's flavor, absent alcohol's pharmacological effects," the study authors wrote.  Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis asked 49 men to try two beverages: Gatorade and their preferred beer.

A Costa Mesa police detective who died last month after a single-vehicle car crash was driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit, according to an official report. Det. Michael Delgadillo's blood-alcohol level was recorded at 0.14% shortly after his car crashed into a concrete pillar near Newport Boulevard and Bristol Street on March 5, according to results from a toxicology exam completed last week by the Orange County coroner. The blood sample was taken before he died.

Jurors are deadlocked for the second time in the case of a 45-year-old hockey mom accused of sexually assaulting her son's 13-year-old friend. Kathia Maria Davis was convicted last year of four felonies in the sexual assault of another boy who was 16 at the time. Davis could get five years in prison for the previous convictions. During the trial, prosecutors said Davis gave the two teenagers alcohol and then engaged them in sexual acts, in some cases with her children still in the house.

As California contemplates legalizing the sale of marijuana, the real war over intoxicants in this country is, as always, over alcohol. Since Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment to the Constitution — which repealed the 18th Amendment authorizing the ban on alcohol — states, counties and municipalities have see-sawed back and forth over alcohol sales. States are still passing laws on the sale of alcohol on Sundays, and municipalities and counties are still voting on whether to permit local alcohol purchases.

Representatives for Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy are saying the goth rocker's blood-alcohol level was 0.01 when he was arrested March 16 on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol after an alleged hit-and-run collision in Glendale. According to Murphy's official Facebook page, the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream was well below the legal limit of 0.08. His representatives alleged that his blood alcohol level of 0.01 was the “lowest amount of alcohol that is able to register on a breathalyzer.

A 57-year-old Lake Forest City Council member has pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol after he was spotted driving on the wrong side of the road, authorities said. Peter Alan Herzog pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence after he was suspected of driving with a blood alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit. On Nov. 17 around 8:15 p.m., Herzog made a left turn from Portola Parkway onto Lake Forest Drive onto the wrong side of the road, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Representatives for Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy are saying the goth rocker's blood-alcohol level was 0.01 when he was arrested March 16 on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol after an alleged hit-and-run collision in Glendale. According to Murphy's official Facebook page, the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream was well below the legal limit of 0.08. His representatives alleged that his blood alcohol level of 0.01 was the “lowest amount of alcohol that is able to register on a breathalyzer.