Feature Channels: Addiction

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–– A research team from the Friedman Brain Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai published evidence showing that subtle changes of inhibitory signaling in the reward pathway can change how animals respond to drugs such as cocaine. This is the first study to demonstrate the critical links between the levels of the trafficking protein, the potassium channels’ effect on neuronal activity and a mouse’s response to cocaine. Results from the study were published in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron earlier this month.

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Stimulation of a certain population of neurons within the brain can alter the learning process, according to a team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania. A report in the Journal of Neuroscience describes for the first time that human learning can be modified by stimulation of dopamine-containing neurons in a deep brain structure known as the substantia nigra.

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that people living with depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions are twice as likely to have tried e-cigarettes and three times as likely to be current users of the controversial battery-powered nicotine-delivery devices, as people without mental health disorders.

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A research team from the Friedman Brain Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has published evidence that shows that subtle changes of inhibitory signaling in the reward pathway can change how animals respond to drugs such as cocaine. This is the first study to demonstrate the critical links between the levels of the trafficking protein, the potassium channels’ effect on neuronal activity and a mouse’s response to cocaine. Results from the study are published in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron on May 7, 2014.

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A novel compound that targets an important brain receptor has a dramatic effect against a host of cocaine addiction behaviors, including relapse behavior, a University at Buffalo animal study has found.

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Smoking prevalence varies by socioeconomic status – particularly in terms of educational attainment – making smoking during pregnancy more common among economically-disadvantaged women, who face an increased risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, preterm birth, SIDS, and later adverse effects. Recent findings from the University of Vermont demonstrate that providing incentives more than doubled smoking abstinence rates during pregnancy and increased fetal growth.

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University of Utah neuroscientists report that when a region of the brain called the lateral habenula is chronically inactivated in rats, they repeatedly drink to excess and are less able to learn from the experience. The study, published online in PLOS ONE on April 2, has implications for understanding behaviors that drive alcohol addiction.

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Relapse is the most painful and expensive feature of drug addiction—even after addicted individuals have been drug-free for months or years, the likelihood of sliding back into the habit remains high. Though some relapse triggers can be consciously avoided, such as people, places and things related to drug use, other subconscious triggers related to the brain’s reward system may be impossible to avoid— they can gain entry to the unconscious brain, setting the stage for relapse. Researchers at Penn Medicine’s Center for Studies of Addiction have now found that the drug baclofen, commonly used to prevent spasms in patients with spinal cord injuries and neurological disorders, can help block the impact of the brain’s response to “unconscious” drug triggers well before conscious craving occurs. They suggest that this mechanism has the potential to prevent cocaine relapse. The new findings are reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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A simple cognitive test may be able to predict how well an individual struggling with addiction will respond to certain treatments, according to a study led by an addiction expert at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

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The adult offspring of parents who were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to have arthritis, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers. Investigators examined a group of 13,036 adults and found that 20.4 per cent of respondents had been diagnosed with arthritis by a medical professional.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered impaired neuronal activity in the parts of the brain associated with anticipatory functioning among occasional 18- to 24-year-old users of stimulant drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamines and prescription drugs such as Adderall.

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Addictive behavior such as drug and alcohol abuse could be associated with poor development of the so-called "love hormone" system in our bodies during early childhood, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide.

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E-cigarettes, promoted as a way to quit regular cigarettes, may actually be a new route to conventional smoking and nicotine addiction for teenagers, according to a new UC San Francisco study.

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Leftover cigarette smoke that clings to walls and furniture is a smelly nuisance, but now research suggests that it could pose a far more serious threat, especially to young children who put toys and other smoke-affected items into their mouths. Scientists reported today at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society that one of the tobacco-specific nitrosamines newly formed in “third-hand smoke” damages DNA and could potentially cause cancer.

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Real-time social media like Twitter could be used to track HIV incidence and drug-related behaviors with the aim of detecting and potentially preventing outbreaks

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Opiate use triggers changes in the protein RGS9-2 in neurons in the brain's reward center. Repeated use affects analgesic relief and tolerance, as well as addiction.

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They keep tanning, even after turning a deep brown and experiencing some of the negative consequences. Skin cancer is among the most common, preventable types of the disease, yet many continue to tan to excess.

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Not only is heroin addictive and deadly, its use is increasing among Americans. That disturbing trend parallels the spike of opioid based prescription painkiller abuse in recent years, say Mayo Clinic experts.

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Spirituality and addiction, blood pressure debate, curbing TB-HIV co-infection, and more from Johns Hopkins Nursing.

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Although many health professionals who treat people with psychiatric problems overlook their patients' smoking habits, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that people who struggle with mood problems or addiction can safely quit smoking and that kicking the habit is associated with improved mental health.

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While smoking among California adults has dramatically declined in recent decades, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report there is a surprisingly large number of people who say they use cigarettes, but don’t consider themselves to be “smokers.”

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In the wake of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death, Loyola University Health System toxicologist Christina Hantsch, MD, FACEP, FACMT, is available to talk about the rise she has seen in heroin overdoses in recent years.

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A new study correlating brain activity with how people make decisions suggests that when individuals engage in risky behavior, such as drunk driving or unsafe sex, it’s probably not because their brains’ desire systems are too active, but because their self-control systems are not active enough. This might have implications for how health experts treat mental illness and addiction or how the legal system assesses a criminal’s likelihood of committing another crime.

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Nearly one-third of US adolescents consume high-caffeine energy drinks or "shots," and these teens report higher rates of alcohol, cigarette, or drug use, reports a study in the January/February 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.

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It’s no easy task to quit smoking and the lure of an e-cigarette, which claims to mimic the smoking experience without the harmful chemicals, seems a dream come true for many smokers. According Philip McAndrew, MD, Loyola University Health System physician and smoking cessation expert, that dream can quickly turn into a nightmare with no FDA product regulations. The truth is little is known about the chemicals e-cigarette smokers are inhaling. What is known is there is an increase in the number of adolescents smoking them.

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Research among college students found that men under the influence of alcohol are more likely to perpetrate physical, psychological or sexual aggression against their partners than men under the influence of marijuana. Women, on the other hand, were more likely to be physically and psychologically aggressive under the influence of alcohol but, unlike men, they were also more likely to be psychologically aggressive under the influence of marijuana.

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Teen marijuana use may have repercussions in unexposed progeny. This rodent study found that parental use of marijuana/THC was linked to molecular and neurobiological disturbances and increased motivation to get drugs.

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Finding suitable drug targets for treating cocaine addiction has proved daunting, but for the first time, researchers have shown that abundant enzyme PARP-1 and the sidekick-1 gene are found to enhance the brain's reward system.

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Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have described a pair of drug candidates that advance the search for new treatments for pain, addiction and other disorders.

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Scientists have discovered how the element sodium influences the signaling of a major class of brain cell receptors, known as opioid receptors. The discovery suggests new therapeutic approaches to a host of brain-related medical conditions.

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TORONTO, ON – Remission from depression is delayed in adults who have experienced childhood physical abuse or parental addictions, a new study by University of Toronto researchers has found. The study is published this week in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. University of Toronto investigators examined a range of factors associated with remission in a sample of 1,128 depressed Canadian adults, drawn from the National Population Health Survey. Depressed individuals were followed every other year until remission occurred, for up to 12 years. “Our findings indicated that most people bounce back. In fact, three-quarters of individuals were no longer depressed after two years” reported co-author and Professor Emeriti Tahany M. Gadalla. However, not everyone recovered at the same rate.

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Collaborating scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the University of Camerino in Italy have published new findings on a system in the brain that naturally moderates the effects of stress.

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Researchers at the University at Buffalo have found a way to change alcohol drinking behavior in rodents, using the emerging technique of optogenetics, which uses light to stimulate neurons.

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Des Plaines, IL - Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and USDTL (United States Drug Testing Laboratory, Inc.) have published study results in the OpenOnline edition of the journal Addiction demonstrating the use of the direct alcohol biomarker ethyl glucuronide (EtG).

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Southern California have found that rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are significantly higher among those who have psychotic disorders than among those in the general population. The finding is of particular concern because individuals with severe mental illness are more likely to die younger than people without severe psychiatric disorders.

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UT Southwestern neuroscience researchers have identified a gene that controls the response to cocaine by comparing closely related strains of mice often used to study addiction and behavior patterns.

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Young adults who are heavy users of the Internet may also exhibit signs of addiction, say researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Duke University Medical Center and the Duke Institute of Brain Sciences in a new study that compares Internet usage with measures of addiction.

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Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers are gaining a better understanding of the neurochemical basis of addiction with a new technology called optogenetics.

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In this month’s release find research about local smoke-free laws’ impact on asthma; patterns of alcohol-use among sexual minority adolescents; recommendations to reduce military sexual trauma; and how political leanings may impact cigarette tax rates more than the economy.

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The use of crack and powder cocaine both varies and overlaps among high school seniors, researchers at NYU and NYU Langone Medical Center have found. Their findings point to the need to take into account both common and different at-risk factors in developing programming and messaging to stem cocaine use.

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According to a study conducted by Mayo Clinic and the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA), nearly 1 in every 100 anesthesiology residents entering primary training from 1975 to 2009 developed substance use disorder (SUD) during training. The incidence of this disorder is continuing to increase and the risk of relapse or death is high. The study appears in the Dec. 4 issue of JAMA, a medical education theme issue.

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Do drinking and marriage mix? That depends on who’s doing the drinking — and how much — according to a recent study by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

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New research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reveals long-term cocaine abuse may be associated with deficits in parts of the brain involved in monitoring and overseeing one’s own behavior.

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A comprehensive analysis of more than 1 million hospital admissions finds that over 50 percent of all nonsurgical patients were prescribed opioids during their hospitalizations -- often at very high doses.

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Male adolescents who participate in organized sports are more likely to be prescribed opioid medications and misuse them than male teens that don’t play sports, finds a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.