Welcome to Acne Files, a month-long series where we get real about whiteheads, blackheads,cysts, and every bump or blemish in between. From skin-soothing products R29 editors swear by to exclusive deals on the most breakout-friendly beauty brands, we’re kissing the concept of “bad skin” goodbye and exploring why acne goes so much further than skin deep.

Formula 1 failed to apologise or issue refunds to fans after they witnessed just eight minutes of cars on track before being told to leave on a farcical opening day in Las Vegas. As opposed to a refund, all single-day ticket holders have instead been offered a $200 voucher for the Las Vegas Grand Prix official shop. Those with full weekend, three-day tickets won’t be reimbursed in any way for Thursday night’s lost action. A lengthy statement released on Friday from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm was also notable for the lack of an apology to spectators as well. A section of the statement read: “We have all been to events, like concerts, games and even other Formula 1 races, that have been cancelled because of factors like weather or technical issues. “It happens, and we hope people will understand.” Fans in the grandstands were told to leave at 1:30am local time on Friday morning, one hour before the second practice session took place. The statement also detailed that fans were told to leave due to “concern about our public safety and security officials, transportation employees and hospitality staff.” The drama began on Thursday night when Carlos Sainz ran over a loose drain cover on the strip, forcing the first practice session to be cancelled for safety reasons. Second practice, scheduled to start at midnight, was continuously delayed before it started at 2:30am. By that point, cars were going around the new 3.8-mile track without any fans present to see it. The statement also read: “The precautionary step of removing all of the water valve covers on the entire track and filling them with sand and asphalt was undertaken. “The entire process, from determination of the issue to remediation, took approximately five hours. The decision to remediate in this way was taken out of an abundance of caution and because the safety of drivers, trackside marshals and officials and our fans is always our highest priority. “We thank the contractors who worked expeditiously to resolve the situation so quickly.” Read More What time is qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday? Former F1 champion gets married in Las Vegas Grand Prix paddock F1 enters new Las Vegas dawn with disaster on opening night Watch: Sparks fly as Sainz’s Ferrari hits drain cover on Las Vegas F1 circuit Empty grandstands at Las Vegas GP as chaotic practice session takes place at 3am Carlos Sainz handed ‘ridiculous’ penalty after drain cover crash at Las Vegas GP

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Alcohol addiction ruins millions of lives every year, but scientists may have found a cure for this terrible affliction. A new treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been trialled in monkeys with impressive results and, if these translate to human trials, the impact could be monumental. A team of neuroscientists and physiologists from across the US tested a new type of gene therapy to see if they could directly target the underlying brain circuitry associated with sustained heavy drinking. As they noted, in the journal Nature Medicine, people suffering from AUD commonly return to alcohol use even if they attempt to quit. This is largely to do with what’s known as mesolimbic dopamine (DA) signalling – meaning how the central nervous system circuit communicates the feelgood neurotransmitter dopamine. A protein called glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is key to keeping these neurons in this reward circuitry functioning. However, experts have found that levels of GDNF are reduced in people with AUD during periods of alcohol abstinence, most notably in a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), as IFLScience notes. Therefore, the researchers decided to test whether using gene therapy to deliver more GDNF to the VTA could help reinforce this crucial dopaminergic signalling and prevent patients from suffering an alcoholic relapse. The team of scientists explained how alcohol consumption in non-addicts prompts the release of dopamine, creating a pleasurable buzz feeling, but chronic alcohol use causes the brain to adapt and stop releasing so much dopamine. “So when people are addicted to alcohol, they don’t really feel more pleasure in drinking,” Dr Kathleen Grant, a senior co-author of the study, said in a statement. “It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain an intoxicated state.” For their research, Dr Grant and her colleagues used eight rhesus macaque monkeys, who were exposed to increasing concentrations of alcohol over four 30-day “induction” periods. The monkeys then had free access to alcohol and water for 21 hours a day for six months, during which they developed heavy drinking behaviours. This was then followed by a 12-week abstinence phase, with the GDNF treatment performed four weeks in for half of the subjects. The gene therapy was delivered using a a viral vector containing a copy of the human GDNF gene injected directly into the primate’s VTA, according to IFLScience. And the results were truly jaw-dropping. “Drinking went down to almost zero,” Dr Grant said. “For months on end, these animals would choose to drink water and just avoid drinking alcohol altogether. They decreased their drinking to the point that it was so low we didn’t record a blood-alcohol level.” The most exciting aspect of their findings is the suggestion that gene therapy could offer a permanent solution for people with the most severe cases of AUD. This will be a welcome glimmer of hope to many, given that some 29.5 million people were diagnosed with AUD in the US alone in 2021, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Of these 29.5 million sufferers, almost a million (894,000) were aged between 12 and 17. It’ll likely be some time before we know for sure whether the gene therapy can be rolled out in humans, but it’s an important first step in tackling this devastating disorder. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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