An enzyme that appears to play a role in controlling the brain's response to nicotine and alcohol in mice might be a promising target for a drug that simultaneously would treat nicotine addiction and alcohol abuse in people, according to a study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco.
Information researchers at the University of Arkansas have found evidence that suggests dangerous mobile phone usage while driving may be attributed to obsessive-compulsive disorder traits rather than addiction. The findings have significant policy implications because most legislation prohibiting mobile phone usage while driving – which generally has failed – has relied on research that links dangerous and excessive usage to addictive traits.
Parents of teens likely underestimate own teens’ substance use, while overestimating marijuana and alcohol use by teens nationally.
Increased rates of marijuana use drive increase, especially among young adults.
The newly released Smoking Prevalence, Savings, and Treatment (SmokingPaST) Framework is a tool designed to calculate the impact of investments in tobacco treatment programs on health and medical cost savings. The framework combines what is already known about the medical costs of smoking, the health benefits of quitting and the effectiveness of different quit methods.
Smokers who also have alcohol, drug and mental disorders would benefit greatly from smoking cession counseling from their primary care physicians and would be five times more successful at kicking the habit
Sending cell phone pictures of medications before taking them may provide a simple but effective way to monitor compliance with prescribed treatment for methamphetamine addiction, reports a study in the September Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health
Alcohol and impulsivity are a dangerous mix: People with current drinking problems and poor impulse control are more likely to die in the next 15 years, a new study suggests.
Could a mint-flavored additive to cigarettes have a negative impact on smoking cessation efforts? New research from investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and UMDNJ-School of Public Health shines a light on this topic. It finds that menthol cigarettes are associated with decreased quitting in the United States, and that this effect is more pronounced for blacks and Puerto Ricans.
People who frequently use tanning beds may be spurred by an addictive neurological reward-and-reinforcement trigger, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a pilot study.
Researchers studying mice are getting closer to understanding how stress affects mood and motivation for drugs. Blocking the stress cascade in brain cells may help reduce the effects of stress, which can include anxiety, depression and the pursuit of addictive drugs.
A new study found that of the 19.5 percent of high school students who call themselves smokers, most don’t smoke daily or frequently.
A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and elsewhere shows that methamphetamine use can fuel HIV infection risk among teenage boys and young men who have sex with men (MSM), a group that includes openly gay and bisexual men, as well as those who have sex with men but do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual.
A dramatic reading of Act III of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night” at the APA convention. Following the performance, a panel of psychologists will lead a discussion on addiction and audience members will be allowed to give their emotional and professional reactions to the production.
A new study by researchers at Drexel University’s School of Public Health suggests that abuse of prescription painkillers may be an important gateway to the use of injected drugs such as heroin, among people with a history of using both types of drugs. The results support a need for efforts to prevent misuse of prescription drugs, particularly during adolescence.
Study provides trend data about increases and decreases in behavioral health problems experienced among the states.
A new study by Geisinger Health System researchers finds a high prevalence of prescription pain medication addiction among chronic pain patients. In addition, researchers found that the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) new definition of addiction, which was expected to reduce the number of people considered addicts who take these medicines, actually resulted in the same percentage of people meeting the criteria of addiction.
Rates of medication borrowing were thought to be higher in low-income populations due to factors such as a lack of access to health care and high rates of crime and drug abuse. But a new study led by Temple doctor Lawrence Ward has found that is not the case.
UWM researchers discovered that a common beta blocker, used to treat people with hypertension, has shown to be effective in preventing the brain from retrieving memories associated with cocaine use in animal-addiction models.
Injection drug users are in greater need of substance abuse treatment compared to non-injecting drug users, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International.
Neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the brain cells involved in alcohol-related blackouts and the molecular mechanism that appears to underlie them. Alcohol interferes with key receptors in the brain, which in turn manufacture steroids that inhibit long-term potentiation, a process that strengthens the connections between neurons and is crucial to learning and memory.
A study by University of Washington psychologists shows some people continue to drink heavily because of perceived positive effects, despite experiencing negative effects such as hangovers, fights and regrettable sexual situations.
Hospital emergency department visits involving underage drinking double for males during the Fourth of July holiday weekend according to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Using a combination of genetic engineering and laser technology, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have manipulated brain wiring responsible for reward-seeking behaviors, such as drug addiction.
The research is presented this week at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Atlanta.
To many people, smoking pot is no big deal. Denise Walker, co-director of the University of Washington’s Innovative Programs Research Group, disagrees. “It’s not a risk-free drug,” she said. She is lead author of a paper showing that a brief, voluntary conversation with an adult led to up to a 20 percent decrease in marijuana use for teenagers who frequently used the drug.
A University of Houston researcher is using an innovative approach to studying food addictions in hopes of finding strategies to assess and treat them.
A new national report shows that from 1999 to 2009 (the most recent year with available figures) substance abuse treatment admissions among those 12 and older have gone up for cases involving alcohol, opiates, and marijuana. The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that one of the most notable shifts that has occurred in this period was in the rise of opiate admissions attributable mostly to prescription drugs – from 8-percent of all opiate admissions in 1999 to 33-percent in 2009.
"The FDA's images bring future consequences into the moment the smoker is making the choice to buy cigarettes," said a leading addiction researcher.
Substance use disorders affect a broad range of people, including some of the estimated 37 million U.S. adults who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Recent research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center draws on the findings of previously published studies to further understanding about how marijuana affects the brains of chronic users, with specific focus on how the drug affects the decision-making process.
In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist.
A new national study shows that from 2005 to 2009 there was a 55 percent increase in emergency department visits for drug related suicide attempts by men aged 21 to 34 -- from 19,024 visits in 2005 to 29,407 visits in 2009. In 2009, there were a total of 77,971 emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts among males of all ages.
Dr. Charles Samenow, assistant professor in the GW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, member of the Board of Directors for the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health, and editor of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, is available to comment on issues including professional health and wellness, addictions, and sexual health. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in general adult psychiatry and sees patients ages 16 and up for mood, anxiety, psychotic, and addictive disorders.
A new national study shows that from 1998 to 2008 (the most recent year with available figures) substance abuse treatment admissions among those 12 and older related to the abuse of benzodiazepine drugs rose from 22,400 in 1998 to approximately 60,200 in 2008. The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that while benzodiazepine related admissions represented only 3.2- percent of all substance abuse admissions among this population in 2008, it had grown from the 1.3- percent it represented in 1998.
A new report shows that alcohol dependence is four times more likely to occur among adults with mental illness than among adults with no mental illness (9.6-percent versus 2.2-percent).
Efforts to adapt tobacco cessation efforts to the unique needs of South Asians living in the U.S. may receive a boost from what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind study. The research, conducted by investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and UMDNJ-School of Public Health, closely examined tobacco- and smokeless tobacco-use patterns by South Asians in New Jersey and the Northeast.
In three papers published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute researchers report their conclusions from a comprehensive evaluation of cigarette package labeling.
A new national study shows that from 2005 to 2009 (the most recent year with available figures) there was a 49-percent increase in emergency department visits for drug related suicide attempts by women aged 50 and older -- from 11,235 visits in 2005 to 16,757 in 2009. This increase reflects the overall population growth of women aged 50 and older.
Children whose mothers or grandmothers smoked during pregnancy are at increased risk of asthma in childhood, but the underlying causes of this are not well understood. Now a new study indicates changes in a process called DNA methylation that occurs before birth may be a root cause.
Nearly everyone who has tried to quit smoking says it’s incredibly difficult, and the struggle is due in part to genetic factors. Now, a new study from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on how one specific genetic risk for smoking relapse may work: Some of the difficulties may be due to how many receptors, called "mu opioid" receptors, a smoker has in his or her brain. The results, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, may lead to the development of new treatments that target these receptors and help smokers increase their chances of success when they try to quit.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and King’s College London have independently identified DNA on chromosome 3 that appears to be related to depression.
School prevention programs aimed at curbing alcohol misuse in children are somewhat helpful, enough so to deserve consideration for widespread use, according to a large, international systematic review.
Alcohol Use Linked to Time Spent Using a Computer for Non-School-Related Activities, Including the Use of Social Networking Sites, According to New Weill Cornell Study
When a new tobacco-free policy was instituted at an Ohio women’s substance abuse treatment center, both smokers and non-smokers were more likely to leave treatment early in the first few months after the policy change.
HOUSTON (May 5, 2011) – First-year college students who own a fake identification card significantly increase their chance of having alcohol-related problems, according to research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
A new study examining 18 years of data from the California state tobacco quitline found that African American smokers used the counseling service at significantly higher rates than Caucasian smokers. The finding is reported in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Dermatologist who conducted groundbreaking research into indoor tanning addiction, is available to comment on American Academy of Dermatology (Academy) survey results and potential FDA action regarding tanning beds.
The effects of nicotine upon brain regions involved in addiction mirror those of cocaine, according to new neuroscience research. A single 15-minute exposure to nicotine caused a long-term increase in the excitability of neurons involved in reward, according to a University of Chicago study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
An antioxidant may prevent damage to the liver caused by excessive alcohol, according to new research from UAB. The findings may point the way to treatments to reverse steatosis, or fatty deposits in the liver that can lead to cirrhosis and cancer.
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