Feature Channels: Addiction

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Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have been awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative. The NIH HEAL initiative, which launched in 2018, was created to find scientific solutions to stem the national opioid and pain public health crises.

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New research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identifies a common genetic signature that may increase a person's risk of developing substance use disorders. The work eventually could lead to universal therapies to treat multiple substance use disorders and potentially help people diagnosed with more than one.

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Anthony DiStefano, professor of public health at Cal State Fullerton, believes that the sudden social isolation that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic had an influence on mental health and drug overdose deaths.

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It's sleep awareness week, according to the National Sleep Foundation. It’s important to understand how sleep deprivation can impact your health. Most people recognize that if they don’t get enough sleep, their mood and memory will suffer the next day.

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People living in the United States must travel significantly farther to access methadone treatment for opioid addiction than Canadians, suggests a new study led by Washington State University researchers.

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Parents have a new—and deadly—reason to sit down with their tweens and teens for a talk about drug abuse. The reason: fentanyl.

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A new national study published in BMC Public Health suggests that problematic social media use in early adolescents is associated with both positive and negative alcohol beliefs, which play a key role in predicting alcohol use and, potentially, the development of alcohol use disorder later in life.

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Below are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Chemistry news channel on Newswise.

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As cocaine use continues to climb across the United States, scientists have struggled to develop an effective pharmacological approach to treat the devastating disorder. But by seamlessly combining artificial intelligence (AI), human intelligence, clinical testing and computer analysis, researchers at Case Western Reserve University have unearthed an existing option that appears to hold promise.

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The U.S. methamphetamine mortality rate increased fiftyfold between 1999 and 2021, with most of the added deaths also involving heroin or fentanyl, researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

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ROCKVILLE, MD – Approximately three million Americans suffer from opioid use disorder, and every year more than 80,000 Americans die from overdoses. Opioid drugs, such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone and morphine, activate opioid receptors. Activating mu-opioid receptors leads to pain relief and euphoria, but also physical dependence and decreased breathing, the latter leading to death in the case of drug overdose.

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In a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) expressed its strong support of naloxone nasal spray products for non-prescription use. Naloxone, a safe life-saving medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose and significantly reduces the incidence of opioid overdose deaths, should be available to all patients across the United States as a nonprescription treatment, according to the ASA.

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Analysis reveals similar changes in the brain’s functioning in both humans and mouse models

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Whether you call them comfort foods, highly processed foods, junk foods, empty calories or just some of Americans’ favorite foods and drinks, about 13% of Americans aged 50 to 80 have an unhealthy relationship with them.

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For teens at elevated risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), close relationships with parents can help mitigate their genetic and environmental vulnerability, a new study suggests. The offspring of people with AUD are four times more likely than others to develop the disorder. Increasing evidence suggests that this heritable risk may be either amplified or mitigated by the quality of parenting.

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Indiana University researchers have potentially discovered a new way to block the brain’s reward response to opioids, reducing their potential for addiction without reducing their therapeutic aspects.

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A jerk is a physical quantity that represents a sudden change of acceleration. It is widely used as a parameter in engineering, manufacturing, sports science, and other industries.

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New insights into the opposing actions of serotonin-producing nerve fibres in mice could lead to drugs for treating addictions and major depression.

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Here are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Winter Holidays channel on Newswise.

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Wastewater sampling has shown the significant impact of removing the strong painkiller codeine from pharmacy counters to a prescription-only medication since 2018 in Australia. The move has led to a 37 per cent drop in codeine use, cutting dependency and potentially saving lives.

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Here are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Behavioral Science channel on Newswise, a free source for journalists.

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Giving some homeless mothers with young children a place to live may do little to help them if it is not combined with support services, a first-of-its-kind study showed.

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Children who have experienced deprivation are more likely to make more impulsive choices than those who don’t and can lead to addictions in later life - research has shown.

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Los científicos de Mayo Clinic han creado modelos en miniatura de cerebros 3D creados en laboratorio a partir de células humanas para estudiar la adicción a los opioides y la respuesta al tratamiento para los opioides. Como resultado, el equipo ha descubierto cambios en neuronas cerebrales específicas de personas diagnosticadas con trastorno por consumo de opioides. El nuevo estudio, publicado en Molecular Psychiatry, ayuda a clarificar un posible objetivo terapéutico y se suma al conocimiento de la vía de la adicción a los opioides. 

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Cientistas da Mayo Clinic desenvolveram em laboratório modelos 3D de cérebros em miniatura a partir de células humanas para estudar a dependência de opioides e a resposta ao tratamento com essas substâncias. Como resultado, a equipe descobriu alterações em células cerebrais específicas de pessoas diagnosticadas com transtorno por uso de opioides. O novo estudo, publicado na revista Molecular Psychiatry, ajuda a esclarecer um possível alvo terapêutico e contribui para conhecer o caminho da dependência de opioides. 

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A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society shows overall sales of nicotine pouches increased during 2019-2022. The data also showed sales of 8mg nicotine concentration level (highest available) products rose more rapidly than those with different concentration levels.

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Fifty-five percent of CareConnect’s patients with opioid use disorder had an active prescription for treatment a month after first engaging with the program

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Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine posit that a region of the brain that Francis Crick thought to impart consciousness may have been incorrect: They developed a new theory — built on data — that the claustrum behaves more like a high-speed internet router, taking in executive commands from “boss” areas of the brain’s cortex that forms complex thoughts to generate “networks” in the cortex.

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Cocaine disrupts the balance of microbes in the guts of mice, part of a cycle of waxing and waning neurochemicals that can enhance the drug’s effects in the brain. But the same chemicals may also be harnessed to prevent addiction, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.Cocaine increases levels of a hormone called norepinephrine in users’ intestines, triggering an explosion of growth of proteobacteria, a family of microbes that includes the common and sometimes harmful bacterium E.

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Two habits are riskier than one when it comes to surgery-related problems, according to a new study of cigarette and alcohol use before an operation. A second study shows coaching about drinking-related surgical risks in the weeks before their operation helped patients cut their drinking in half on average.

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Can highly processed foods be addictive?

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Lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels may reduce smoking without worsening mental health in smokers with mood or anxiety disorders, according to College of Medicine researchers.