The U.S. had the second-lowest proportion of students who used tobacco and alcohol compared to their counterparts in 36 European countries, a new report indicates.
The term “holiday heart syndrome” was coined in a 1978 study to describe patients with atrial fibrillation who experienced a common and potentially dangerous form of heart palpitation after excessive drinking, which can be common during the winter holiday season. The symptoms usually went away when the revelers stopped drinking. Now, research from UCSF builds on that finding, establishing a stronger causal link between alcohol consumption and serious palpitations in patients with atrial fibrillation, the most common form of arrhythmia.
The use of 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, by adolescents with a history of drug and alcohol abuse not only reduces the risk of relapse but also leads to lower health care costs, according to research by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
A Perspective piece published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine outlines a plan for an “ideal” prescription-drug monitoring program that would enable doctors, dentists, pharmacists, researchers and law enforcement officials to access real-time data on patients’ prescription drug histories to help cut abuse of these drugs.
Researchers have found evidence that early drug and alcohol use is associated with lower levels of educational achievement. They found that people who began drinking or using drugs as young teens or who became substance dependent were less likely to finish college
Ron Mize, assistant professor of Latino Studies at Cornell University, and co-author of “Consuming Mexican Labor and Latino Immigrants in the United States,” comments on this week’s events in Monterrey, Mexico that claimed 49 lives in the country’s ongoing drug war.
Alcohol is far too attractive and easy to obtain for youth on the Internet, according to a commentary from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the commentary accompanies a new report from authors Rebecca Williams and Kurt Ribisl at the University of North Carolina that documents the relative ease with which underage youth can purchase alcohol online.
Surveys of U.S. adolescents suggest that the estimated peak risk of using prescription pain relievers for extramedical use, such as to get high or for other unapproved indications, occurs in mid-adolescence, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.
The smoking cessation drug varenicline significantly reduced alcohol consumption in a group of heavy-drinking smokers, in a study carried out by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco.
New report examines the extent to which states’ alcohol advertising laws incorporate eight different best practices to reduce youth exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing.
Between 2000 and 2009 in the United States, the annual rate of maternal opiate use increased nearly 5-fold, while diagnosis of the drug withdrawal syndrome among newborns, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), increased almost 3-fold, accompanied by a substantial increase in hospital charges related to NAS, according to a study published online by JAMA.
In the largest imaging study of the human brain ever conducted—involving 1,896 14-year-olds—scientists have discovered networks that go a long way toward explaining why some teenagers start experimenting with drugs and alcohol.
Binge drinking may slow recovery and increase medical costs for survivors of burn injuries, according to a study presented at the American Burn Association meeting in Seattle.
Expert at medication safety available to help your audience dispose of unwanted or expired medication. She will tell you how long to hold on to your medicine, whether expiration dates mean anything, and how to avoid accidental poisonings.
Patients with addictive disorders who take methadone or other opioid medications for pain will experience heightened sensitivity to pain, known as hyperalgesia, and new research published in The Journal of Pain shows that the condition does not improve over the course of treatment.
People with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NALFD) who consume alcohol in modest amounts – no more than one or two servings per day – are half as likely to develop hepatitis as non-drinkers with the same condition, reports a national team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
Half of young adult tobacco smokers also have smoked marijuana in the last 30 days, according to a recent Facebook-based survey conducted by UCSF researchers, indicating a greater prevalence of marijuana and tobacco co-use among smokers age 18-25 than previously reported.
A five year study conducted with thousands of local teenagers by University of Montreal researchers reveals that those who used speed (meth/ampthetamine) or ecstasy (MDMA) at fifteen or sixteen years of age were significantly more likely to suffer elevated depressive symptoms the following year.
A survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. teenagers suggests that most cases of alcohol and drug abuse have their initial onset at this important period of development, according to a report published in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.
To curb employees’ on-the-job substance use and intoxication, bosses need to do more than just be around their employees all day, according to a new study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).
A research team has determined the structure of the kappa-opioid receptor—site of action of the widely abused hallucinogen Salvia divinorum – solving longstanding scientific mysteries and offering new insights for treating drug addiction, chronic pain and depression.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have discovered that marijuana-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can directly inhibit a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found in late-stage AIDS.
Now a group of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has discovered that a tiny molecule in the fly’s brain called neuropeptide F governs this behavior—as the levels of the molecule change in their brains, the flies’ behavior changes as well.
Every year, thousands of teens and young adults celebrate Spring Break by binge drinking large amounts of alcohol, a dangerous right-of-passage and one linked to possible brain damage later as adults.
In a national Swedish adoption study, the risk for drug abuse appears to be increased among adopted children whose biological parents had a history of drug abuse, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The risk of abusing drugs is greater – even for adopted children – if the family environment in which they are raised is dysfunctional, according to a new study conducted by a collaborative team from Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.
Middle- and high-school students who bully their classmates are more likely than others to use substances such as cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana, a new study found.
A study led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the University of East London UK, and Swansea University UK, is the first to show the effects of the drug ecstasy on fetal and infant development.
New Johns Hopkins research suggests that providing housing contingent on drug abstinence to inner-city opioid abusers leaving a detoxification program significantly increases their chances of remaining drug free six months later.
New experiments may provide insights into possible modes of heart damage from alcohol. Researchers will present their findings at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS), held Feb. 25-29 in San Diego, Calif.
Research on this potent drug paints an alarming picture, revealing that bath salts produce combined effects similar to both methamphetamine (METH) and cocaine, according to research to be presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS), held Feb. 25-29 in San Diego, Calif.
Reading a newspaper article about the role alcohol played in an injury accident or violent crime makes people more supportive of enforcing alcohol laws, a new study suggests.
A new report shows 7.5 million children under age 18 (10.5 percent of this population) lived with a parent who has experienced an alcohol use disorder in the past year. According to the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 6.1 million of these children live with two parents—with either one or both parents experiencing an alcohol use disorder in the past year.
Hospitalization for underage drinking is common in the United States, and it comes with a price tag -- the estimated total cost for these hospitalizations is about $755 million per year, a Mayo Clinic study has found.
Data could lead to better advice for primary-care doctors struggling with a rising tide of older adult patients still in throes of youthful bad habits.
On any given weekend, at least 10 percent of students at a single college could be hosting a party, research suggests. How much hosts drink depends on whether they are on or off campus.
A study of a controversial housing project that allows chronically homeless people with severe alcohol problems to drink in their apartments found that during their first two years in the building residents cut their heavy drinking by 35 percent.
Researchers at the California Teratogen Information Service (CTIS) Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego, have found new links between the timing of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and certain characteristics of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
A large-scale national study suggests low to moderate use of marijuana is less harmful to users’ lungs than exposure to tobacco, even though the two substances contain many of the same components. This comprehensive study, led by UCSF and University of Alabama at Birmingham, collected data from more than 5,000 U.S. adults for more than 20 years.
UCLA researchers have identified how a component of an ancient Chinese herbal anti-hangover medicine called dihydromyricetin, isolated from the plant Hovenia, counteracts acute alcohol intoxication and withdrawal symptoms.The research team determined that dihydromyricetin may provide a molecular target and cellular mechanism to counteract alcohol intoxication and dependence, leading to new therapeutic treatments.
A Loyola University Health System physician advises B vitamins, exercise and other ways to prevent a New Year's hangover. He also has advice on what doesn't work.
With the countdown to 2012 just around the corner, Vanderbilt’s Emergency Department is bracing for what is likely to be one of the busiest weekends of the year. Alcohol-related injuries and deaths typically spike on New Year’s Eve, causing physicians and staff to prepare for an influx of patients requiring help after overconsumption.
The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health today released a four-part YouTube movie charting the alcohol industry’s push into digital marketing and raising questions whether the industry’s self-regulation is adequately protecting underage youth from exposure to the “alcohol experience” available on social marketing platforms such as FaceBook, YouTube and Twitter.
Drinking enough alcohol to become intoxicated increases aggression significantly in people who have one particular personality trait, according to new research.
Romantic partners are a powerful influence. But a new study conducted by Dalhousie University researchers has revealed that dating couples may have more influence over each other than you think – especially when it comes to binge drinking.
Major metropolitan areas show significant variation in the rates of emergency department (ED) visits involving illicit drugs. In terms of overall illicit drug-related emergency room visits, Boston has the highest rate (571 per 100,000 population), followed by New York City (555 per 100,000 population), Chicago (507 per 100,000 population), and Detroit (462 per 100,000 population). By comparison, the national average was 317 per 100,000 population.