A powerful tool is available to investigate brain development, memory and learning, and brain dysregulation in neuropsychiatric diseases like addiction, depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. This molecular biology tool can selectively and robustly turn on genes in brain neurons of living rats.
In a new survey released by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), Chicago parents identified gun violence, bullying and poverty as the biggest social problems for children and adolescents in the city. The survey included parents from all 77 community areas in Chicago.
UNC School of Medicine professor and prominent tobacco researcher, Dr. Adam Goldstein, suggests the effect of e-cigarette flavors on youth tobacco product use is so great, the FDA should consider banning the sale of flavors.
An artificial intelligence technique that combs electronic medical records can identify trauma patients who misuse alcohol, a study has found. In 78 percent of cases, the technique was able to differentiate between patients who misused alcohol and those who did not.
UC San Diego Health is among 31 health facilities selected from across the state to participate in the California Bridge Program, an accelerated, 18-month training program for health care providers to enhance access to around-the-clock treatment for patients with opioid use disorder.
A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and manufacturers did not take action when evidence emerged that potentially lethal fentanyl products were being inappropriately prescribed to patients.
Seven in 10 parents think they should have a say in whether dispensaries are located near their child’s school or daycare and most say they should be banned within a certain distance of those facilities.
Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day can damage your vision, a study co-authored by a Rutgers researcher finds.
With new findings that show an unprecedented jump in nicotine-containing electronic cigarette usage among teens, many parents wonder how best to approach the topic.
Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR, announced the publication of new research showing that the use of financial incentives to encourage engagement with tobacco quit line treatment is a cost-effective option to enhance smoking cessation rates for low-income smokers.
University at Buffalo researchers have received part of a $1.5 million grant to investigate light therapy as a replacement for prescription opioids in treating oral mucositis, painful ulcers and swelling in the mouth that result from chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer.
There have been dramatic increases in the United States in alcohol-related problems. During the past decade the death rate from all types of alcoholic liver disease increased by more than 40%, alcohol-related emergency department visits increased by 62%, and the prevalence of alcohol use disorder among adults increased by nearly 50%. Despite these increases in alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, there have not been notable increases seen in U.S. per capita alcohol consumption.
Subtle physiological changes involving the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems after exposure to alcohol are difficult to perceive in humans, particularly at lower alcohol levels. Researchers sought to determine the effect of acute intravenous alcohol infusion on skin blood flow (SBF) response and associated subjective responses in 24 social drinkers who participated in an alcohol self-administration study. SBF was measured at the fingertip and earlobe at four timepoints: at baseline, and 0 minutes, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes after beginning an intravenous form of alcohol self-administration. The exposure produced relatively low breath alcohol levels of approximately 30 mg% (0.03%, compared with a reading of 0.08%, at which point an individual is considered legally intoxicated). Subjective responses were measured using questionnaires previously developed for studies such as this.
Behavioral economics is the study of the individual, cultural, and social factors that influence economic decisions. Behavioral economic approaches have identified several characteristics that determine individuals’ demand for alcoholic beverages and have been applied to university students, among whom drinking is an important public health problem. Considerable behavioral economic research has been conducted among students in the United States. Studies have shown that the price of alcohol is strongly linked to consumption. Until now, however, behavioral economics approaches have not been used to examine alcohol demand among students outside of the United States.
Binge drinking in adolescence has been shown to have lasting effects on the wiring of the brain and is associated with increased risk for psychological problems and alcohol use disorder later in life.Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics have shown that some of these lasting changes are the result of epigenetic changes that alter the expression of a protein crucial for the formation and maintenance of neural connections in the amygdala — the part of the brain involved in emotion, fear and anxiety.
Building a circle of trusted adults around a suicidal teen, to support them during vulnerable times, may have long-term effects that reduce their risk of dying young, a new study suggests. About 12 years after the teens were hospitalized for suicidal behaviors, far more of the young people who got standard care had died, compared with young adults in the group that had received the extra adult support.
The Houston Emergency Response Opioid Engagement System (HEROES) was recently awarded two grants that will help fund the opioid intervention program through the end of 2020. James Langabeer, PhD, MBA, a professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), created the program to provide comprehensive treatment for opioid abusers, gain a more thorough understanding of the epidemic in Houston, and work toward getting the highly addictive drugs off the streets.
The opioid epidemic could be responsible for 700,000 overdose deaths in the United States between 2016 and 2025, according to a new study published today in JAMA Network Open.
Two chemicals widely used to flavor electronic cigarettes may be impairing the function of cilia in the human airway, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Nearly 1 percent of high school seniors report using Flakka, a highly potent and potentially dangerous synthetic drug, according to a study by researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at NYU College of Global Public Health, and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Binge and heavy drinking may trigger a long-lasting genetic change, resulting in an even greater craving for alcohol, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
Inmates want to quit smoking but don’t have access to smoking cessation programs in state prisons, increasing the risk – especially among black male inmates -- of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other smoking-related diseases, according to Rutgers researchers.
In this issue, find research on police-related deaths, homocide in Mexico and life expectancy, tobacco and polytobacco use in young adults, and a 1970s heroin intervention
Researchers identified the brain circuits that form memories associating environmental cues with cocaine use and used optogenetics to specifically target those memories and reduce relapse-like behavior.
Alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition. Although patients with cirrhosis are routinely encouraged to stop drinking in order to reduce their mortality risk, many continue drinking and do not avail themselves of alcohol treatment. To understand more fully the role of alcohol treatment in determining the course of alcohol-related cirrhosis, researchers examined the rates, predictors, and outcomes of alcohol treatment in alcohol-related cirrhosis patients with private insurance. They obtained data from a large insurance database containing information on 66,053 patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis for the years 2009-2016. Nearly one-third of the patients were female, with a mean age of 54.5 years when the diagnosis of cirrhosis was made.
Recap of program featuring biotech startups building platforms in the fight against the opioid crisis.
New research from NYU School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center published online January 18 in JAMA Network Open shows that increased marketing of opioid products to physicians -- from consulting fees to free meals -- is associated with higher opioid prescribing rates and elevated overdose deaths in the U.S.
In a study published online today in the journal Science, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of Montefiore, prove for the first time that the brain’s cerebellum—long thought to be mainly involved in coordinating movement—helps control the brain’s reward circuitry. The surprising finding indicates that the cerebellum plays a major role in reward processing and social behaviors and could potentially lead to new strategies for treating addiction.
The two-day conference is intended to help participants increase their understanding of the psychological and physiological factors of addiction recovery and resources that can create positive outcomes.
A study finds a surprising response to cocaine in a novel strain of mutant mice – they failed to show hyperactivity seen in normal mice when given cocaine and didn’t run around. In other tests, they still found cocaine appealing, but displayed an inability to shake the memory of cocaine’s actions when the drug was no longer administered. The key change that blocks cocaine’s stimulant effects in these mice is serotonin, not dopamine, which is responsible for producing a high.
Despite the mounting death toll of America’s opioid crisis, only a minority of facilities that treat substance use disorders offer patients buprenorphine, naltrexone or methadone—the three FDA-approved medications for the long-term management of opioid use disorder, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Researchers know that lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are more likely than heterosexuals to use alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, but until now they didn't know to what degree.
Pain and substance use interact in a vicious cycle that can ultimately worsen and maintain both chronic pain and addiction, according to a research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
People who ever suffered bullying or sexual abuse have a lower quality of life similar to those living with chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, depression or severe anxiety, a new study from the University of Adelaide has found.
– Bad decision-making is a trait oftentimes associated with drug addicts and pathological gamblers, but what about people who excessively use social media? New research from Michigan State University shows a connection between social media use and impaired risky decision-making, which is commonly deficient in substance addiction.
Giving your child extra time on the iPad for good behaviour may not be the best idea according to a new University of Guelph study.
Cornell University researchers have developed an app that uses negative reinforcement, in the form of persistent smartphone vibrations, to remind users they’ve exceeded a predetermined time limit on social media — and help to jolt them free from the all too common social media vortex.
Using discarded foreskins from circumcisions, researchers were able to identify a potential cellular mechanism that connects a mother's smoking while pregnant with an increased risk of offspring obesity later in life
Smoking is a hard habit to kick but when you do, the health benefits are almost immediate. As you re-invent yourself as a non-smoker, here are three straightforward ways to combat weight gain and keep you distracted while coming off that smoking habit.
Expert quoted in the New York Times
Embargoed research covered by CBS News
As we age, we become more vulnerable to developing an alcohol use disorder, more commonly known as alcoholism. Your body processes alcohol less efficiently the older you get. Also, seniors may be drinking more to seek relief from the boredom, loneliness and grief that are common with aging.
The pancreas is an organ located behind the stomach that produces enzymes and hormones that help with digestion and blood-sugar regulation. Both heavy drinking and gallstones can cause an inflamed pancreas, called pancreatitis, which is associated with significant illness and, in about 10% of cases, death. The recent use of cannabis to manage the development of pancreatitis and its progression has yielded conflicting results. This study assessed the impact of cannabis use on both acute (sudden onset) and chronic (persistent) pancreatitis.
New research from Duke Health suggests men in their child-bearing years should consider how THC could impact their sperm and possibly the children they conceive during periods when they’ve been using the drug. Much like previous research that has shown tobacco smoke, pesticides, flame retardants and even obesity can alter sperm, the Duke research shows THC also affects epigenetics, triggering structural and regulatory changes in the DNA of users’ sperm.
McMaster University researchers reviewed 96 clinical trials with more than 26,000 participants and found opioids provide only small improvements in pain, physical functioning and sleep quality compared to a placebo.
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