United States Drug Testing Laboratories (USDTL) launched two new tests for monitoring long-term alcohol exposure on Friday. Using fingernail and hair specimens, the new assay is the first and only test to report a donor’s alcohol exposure for the past 90 days reliably.
Young people may crave boosts to their self-esteem a little too much, new research suggests.
A study funded by the USDA – Agriculture Research Service has tested cattle grazing on degraded soil to determine if the activity would have any effect on restoring depleted nutrients.
Loyola to co-host a free smoking-cessation clinic at the Maywood Public Library.
Researchers have produced a lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a safe vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine.
The smoking cessation medications bupropion and varenicline may both be associated with changes in the way the brain reacts to smoking cues, making it easier for patients to resist cravings, according to two reports posted online today that will appear in the May print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Addiction researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that a risk for alcoholism also may put individuals at risk for obesity, and the association between a family history of alcoholism and obesity risk has become more pronounced in recent years.
Hospital emergency department visits involving underage drinking increased more than 250 percent on New Year’s Day according to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The brief study shows that on New Year’s Day 2009, there were an estimated 1,980 emergency department visits involving underage drinking, compared to 546 such visits on an average day that year - a 263 percent increase.
Nationwide percentage of treatment admissions primarily linked to alcohol has declined, while the percentage primarily linked to illicit drugs has increased.
Motivational interviewing, a popular counseling technique for many addictive behaviors, might not be the ideal treatment choice for those who smoke cigarettes. A University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher says the reason might be, well — motivation. In findings published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Peter S. Hendricks, Ph.D., says that motivational interviewing produced only modest improvement for people in treatment for smoking-cessation. The results were surprising because the technique has been effective for other addictive substances.
Nearly one in five whites could carry a genetic variant that substantially increases their odds of being susceptible to severe cocaine abuse, according to new research.
Not a happy holiday thought, but an important one: The number of babies who die of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, surges by 33 percent on New Year’s Day. The suspected reason? Alcohol consumption by caretakers the night before.
Dalhousie University researchers have completed a study, published in the Drug and Alcohol Review, that investigates drinking patterns when alcohol and caffeinated energy drinks were combined. They have found that energy drinks basically doubled the amount that people reported drinking alcoholic beverages.
A little-used medication can help treat alcoholism, an evidence review confirms, when combined with counseling, 12-step programs or other interventions.
Using buprenorphine instead of methadone — the current standard of care — to treat opioid-dependent pregnant women may result in healthier babies, suggests new findings from an international team led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published in the Dec. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Babies born into the world addicted to drugs because of their mother's dependence on pain medication, or opioids, may be weaned off the substance more comfortably, with a shorter hospital stay and at a reduced cost, if the mother receives a new treatment option during pregnancy.
A new survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that on average 13.2 percent of all persons 16 or older drove under the influence of alcohol and 4.3 percent of this age group drove under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year.
Researchers have shed new light on dopamine’s role in the brain’s reward system, which could provide insight into impulse control problems associated with addiction and a number of psychiatric disorders.
Among smokers with military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), integrating smoking cessation treatment with mental health care for PTSD resulted in higher rates of prolonged smoking abstinence, compared to referral for assistance with quitting smoking, according to a study in the December 8 issue of JAMA.
Depressed smokers want to quit the nicotine habit just as much as non-depressed smokers, but a new study suggests that depression can put a kink in their success.
Neuropsychologists at Baylor University have found the particular cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the age-dependent effect of alcohol in teens that may cause the reduced motor impairment.
Dr. Daniel Lieberman from The George Washington University is available to comment on alcohol abuse as it relates to alcoholic energy drinks such as Four Loko.
Number of facilities offering smoking-cessation products increased from 13 to 19 percent over four years.
Women who suffered sexual or physical abuse as children are more likely to abuse alcohol than are others, according to a new study of 3,680 women.
Five tips to quit smoking and innovative hospital offers free one month fitness membership for every pack of cigarettes from employees.
In time for this year’s Great American Smokeout, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital expands its smoking cessation efforts by offering free counseling and nicotine replacement therapy to survivors of childhood or adult-onset cancer.
Besides damaging the liver, alcohol also can weaken the immune system, slow healing, impair bone formation, increase the risk of HIV transmission and hinder recovery from burns, trauma, bleeding and surgery.
Female veterans aged 20-39 about half as likely to engage in binge drinking as male counterparts (23 percent versus 43 percent).
University at Buffalo smoking cessation researchers today applauded federal plans to require cigarette packs and ads to carry bigger, much more prominent and graphic health warnings, including images of the destruction to the lungs caused by tobacco.
Latinos who live the United States are more likely to quit smoking when they take part in an intervention program, finds a systematic review of studies .
Researchers may have pinpointed a reason many smokers struggle to quit. According to new research published in the journal Addiction, smokers with a history of anxiety disorders are less likely to quit smoking.
South Dakota State University researchers have demonstrated for the first time that a plant-derived compound used to treat nicotine addiction also has significant effects against alcohol addiction.
Helping to address the issue of medication adherence, persons with opioid dependence who had the medication buprenorphine implanted had less opioid use over 16 weeks, according to a study in the October 13 issue of JAMA.
For American students, spending a semester or two studying in a foreign country means the opportunity to improve foreign language skills and become immersed in a different culture. And for some of those students, studying abroad can involve greater alcohol consumption. New results from University of Washington researchers point to why some students drink more alcohol while abroad and suggest ways to intervene.
A team of researchers at Thomas Jefferson University has tested a semi-synthetic opioid they say has the potential to improve the treatment of these newborns, which could save hundreds of millions in healthcare costs annually if future tests continue to show benefit.
Can exercise reduce cravings for drugs? UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators are conducting a research study to find out.
More people are drinking than 20 years ago, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center analysis of national alcohol consumption patterns. Gathered from more than 85,000 respondents, the data suggests that a variety of factors, including social, economic and ethnic influences and pressures, are involved in the increase.
University of Florida experts are available to answer questions from media members about the importance of talking with children during family meals. Teens who infrequently have dinner with their families are more likely to say they expect to try drugs.
Prestigious $3.7 million National Institute on Drug Abuse "Avant-Garde grant to develop a drug to treat cocaine addiction based on an active ingredient found in some Chinese medicines.
Researchers have determined that some medications commonly used to treat neurologic and psychiatric conditions, increase nicotine metabolism in smokers which could lead to increased cigarette consumption.
A two-year, $850,000 study with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Air Force's 59th Medical Wing hopes to find a better indicator of current or past use of illicit drugs. The study will map out compounds made in response to hydrocodone, hoping to lead to a dependency biomarker.
The use of illicit drugs among Americans increased between 2008 and 2009 according to a national survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows the overall rate of current illicit drug use in the United States rose from 8.0 percent of the population aged 12 and older in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009. This rise in overall drug use was driven in large part by increases in marijuana use.
Substance abuse treatment admissions of older adults more than doubled from 1992 to 2008.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a major mechanism underlying the development of tolerance to chronic morphine treatment. The discovery may help researchers find new therapies to treat chronic pain, and reduce tolerance and side effects associated with morphine use. The findings are published in the July 20th issue of Science Signaling.
New research from the University of New Hampshire shows that the “gateway effect” of marijuana – that teenagers who use marijuana are more likely to move on to harder illicit drugs as young adults – is overblown.
A new Geisinger study begins to unlock the puzzle of painkiller (opioid) addiction – why some people are more likely to become addicted than others. Geisinger investigators have found that patients with four common risk factors have a significantly higher risk of addiction. In addition, a history of severe drug dependence and drug abuse compounds the risk. The findings appear in the September issue of Addiction.
College students are less likely to let their female friends engage in risky sexual behavior after a night of drinking alcohol. Recent findings in the journal Communication Education examine how and why college students protect their friends who have been heavily drinking.
Keep students from wrecking their credit and academic careers as the fall semester begins.
If you want to know how people become addicted and why they keep using drugs, ask the people who are addicted. Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told University at Buffalo physicians they first got hooked on drugs legitimately prescribed for pain.
Young adults who abuse amphetamines may be at greater risk of suffering a tear in the main artery leading from the heart, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
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