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I was Born in St. Charles and I  grew up in St. Louis. I remember going to the Balloon glow every year with family.

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St. Louis Front Page is a weekly news publication, with daily updates, spotlighting attractions, events, business and hospitality in St. Louis, Missouri and Southwest Illinois.

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"Olivia has a kind heart and a good sense of who she wants to become.
She has been my rock, my friend, and my confidant ever since she came to live with me. Although she was only 15 years old at the time, she was aged beyond her years due to an extremely difficult childhood, no Dad in the picture and a mother who had issues of her own.
Recently, my dad, her great uncle, was in home hospice care. He lived with us and could not be left alone. She stepped up to help me care for him and allowed me to be able to get out of the house for some time to myself.
Her love for me is my rock and I, in return, love her as if she were my own daughter.
When she asked me to write 50-100 words about her I had no problem. I could write thousands of words about her; how proud I am of her; how proud I am of her and how blessed I am to have her in my life."
-Donna Trent (my aunt)

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Beartooth - Beaten In Lips (Official Video)

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Alcoholism affects many families, mine included.

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Binge drinking when young can cause changes in DNA in brain cells

The changes mean connections do not form as normal between the cells

This alters the way genes are expressed and changes behaviour

However, experts discovered a cancer drug can reverse the changes

Binge drinking as a teenager can cause long-lasting damage to the brain well into adulthood, a new study has warned.

This is because drinking excessive amounts of alcohol when young can damage the brain and cause permanent changes to DNA.

This, in turn, can put teenagers at risk of anxiety disorders and alcoholism, researchers found.

Alcohol changes genes in brain cells, which stop the cells developing connections between them, altering behaviour, they said.

However, they discovered a cancer drug may reverse the damage.

Professor Subhash Pandey, of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, explained that binge drinking during the teenage years disrupts the brain's normal development.

He said: 'Our study provides a mechanism for how binge-drinking during adolescence may lead to lasting changes that result in increased anxiety and alcoholism in adults.'

Intermittent alcohol exposure 'degrades the ability of the brain to form the connections it needs to during adolescence, he explained.

'The brain doesn't develop as it should, and there are lasting behavioural changes associated with this,' he added.

As part of the study, Professor Pandey and his team carried out lab experiments on 28-day-old rats to investigate how alcohol would affect their brain development.

They were given alcohol for two days on, then two days off, which was repeated over 13 days.

Rats exposed to alcohol showed changes in behaviour that lasted into adulthood, long after the exposure to alcohol ended.

They showed increased anxiety-like behaviours and drank more alcohol in adulthood.

When brain tissue from the area of the brain called the amygdala was examined, rats given alcohol showed changes to their DNA, known as epigenetic changes.

Professor Pandey explained that epigenetic changes are chemical modifications of DNA, or of the proteins around which DNA is wound, like thread on a spool.

Modification of these proteins, which are called histones, can change how loosely or tightly the DNA is wound.

THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ADDICTED TO ALCOHOL: A FIFTH OF WORKERS NOW BELIEVE THEY HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM

Genes that lie within DNA that is tightly wrapped around the histones are less active than if the DNA is loosely wrapped.

The looser the DNA is coiled, the more accessible the genes are to the cellular machinery that 'expresses' them.

The rats exposed to alcohol had more tightly coiled DNA.

They also had increased levels of a protein called HDAC2, which modifies histones, causing DNA to be wound tighter around them.

These epigenetic changes were linked to lowered expression of a gene that nerve cells need in order to form new connections between cells, known as synaptic connections.

Professor Pandey argued the lowered activity of this gene may be due to the tighter winding of its DNA.

The lower activity of the gene persisted in adulthood, even if alcohol exposure was stopped weeks before.

The researchers also observed diminished connectivity between nerves in the amygdalae of these affected adult rats.

But a cancer drug known to block the activity of HDAC2 could be used to treat them, he said.

In his experiments, the drug restored expression of the gene needed for synapse formation and the rats' DNA was observed to be less tightly coiled.

The effect of this was that the rats exhibited less anxiety and reduced alcohol intake.

Professor Pandey added: 'We aren't sure if the drug needs to be given long term during adulthood in order to completely reverse the harmful effects of adolescent alcohol exposure.'

The findings were reported online in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.

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Binge drinking as a teenager 'may damage the brain for life'

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Binge drinking when young can cause changes in DNA in brain cells The changes mean connections do not form as normal between the cells This alters the way genes are expressed and changes behaviour However, experts discovered a cancer drug can reverse the changes Binge drinking as a teenager can cause long-lasting damage to the brain well into adulthood, a new study has warned.