Abstinence News and Research RSS Feed - Abstinence News and Research

Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging a desire or appetite for certain bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to abstention from sexual intercourse, alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical considerations.
Study examines effects of smoking on cognitive functioning in AD individuals

Study examines effects of smoking on cognitive functioning in AD individuals

Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic. [More]
Advances in lung cancer treatment have major impact on short- and long-term outcomes

Advances in lung cancer treatment have major impact on short- and long-term outcomes

The American College of Chest Physicians third edition of evidence-based lung cancer guidelines, Diagnosis and Management of Lung Cancer, 3rd ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, recommends offering low-dose computed tomography scanning for lung cancer screening to people with a significant risk of lung cancer due to age and smoking history. [More]

Nalmefene can provide important clinical benefit for alcohol-dependent patients

A potential new treatment for alcoholism called nalmefene is effective and safe for reducing alcohol consumption in alcohol dependent individuals, says a new study published this week in Biological Psychiatry. [More]
UAB School of Nursing offers health care services in rural communities

UAB School of Nursing offers health care services in rural communities

"If individuals, families, and communities don't have access, then they don't have the opportunity for a better life," asserts University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Dean Doreen C. Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN. [More]
Smokers trying to quit will have better experience with varenicline, study finds

Smokers trying to quit will have better experience with varenicline, study finds

Smokers have a higher probability of quitting smoking and a better overall cessation experience when taking varenicline compared to bupropion and to placebo - unmedicated assisted smoking cessation -according to a study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. [More]
Healthy lifestyle may help prolong lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease

Healthy lifestyle may help prolong lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease

Certain lifestyle factors—such as not smoking, getting regular physical activity, and avoiding a low body weight—may help prolong the lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). [More]

Viewpoints: 'Namby-pamby' Democratic budget offer; Murray argues her plan is responsible; Officials can force hospitals to fix pricing for uninsured

In the absence of an emergency, Washington can and should bring its budget into balance, even though that requires doing what politicians despise: for Republicans, raising taxes; for Democrats, curbing the rapid growth in benefit programs such as Medicare and Social Security that already make up three-fifths of federal spending. [More]

Unmet need for modern contraceptive methods projected to reach more than 230 million women worldwide by 2015

New research on contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for contraception in married or co-habiting women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years), based on data from 194 countries, suggests that although the proportion of women in this group using contraception has risen in the last two decades, and unmet need has fallen, 233 million married or co-habiting women are projected to have an unmet need for modern contraceptive methods by 2015. [More]
Cannabis can be detected in blood of chronic daily smokers for a month after last intake

Cannabis can be detected in blood of chronic daily smokers for a month after last intake

New research appearing online today in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of AACC, shows that cannabis can be detected in the blood of daily smokers for a month after last intake. [More]
Sleep quality linked to cannabis lapses

Sleep quality linked to cannabis lapses

Poor sleep quality is associated with an increased risk for early lapses in cannabis-dependent individuals who are attempting to quit the drug, researchers report. [More]

Youths addicted to alcohol and drugs can increase their chances of recovery by helping others

A Case Western Reserve University professor has found that young people addicted to alcohol and drugs can increase their chances of recovery by helping others. [More]
Blog profiles ranking Republican on Senate HHS Appropriations subcommittee

Blog profiles ranking Republican on Senate HHS Appropriations subcommittee

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog profiles Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. Moran is an advocate of funding for the National Institutes of Health, the blog notes, adding that during his seven terms as [More]
Problem drinkers’ depression often related to heavy alcohol intake

Problem drinkers’ depression often related to heavy alcohol intake

For problem drinkers, bouts of depressive symptoms are often the direct result of their heavy alcohol intake, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. [More]
Researchers investigate e-cigarettes awareness, use and perceptions among smokers

Researchers investigate e-cigarettes awareness, use and perceptions among smokers

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), or e-cigarettes, debuted in China in 2003 and have since become available globally, particularly through the Internet. While they resemble traditional tobacco cigarettes, they produce fewer toxins in the vapor for the smoker. Still, these novel products have unknown long-term health and addiction consequences, are of varying nicotine content and delivery, and may appeal to nonusers and youth. ENDS have been banned by health authorities in Canada and Australia. [More]

Substance abuse negatively affects sexual performance in men even after years of abstinence

Researchers at the University of Granada, Spain, and Santo Tomas University in Colombia have found that drug abuse negatively affects sexual performance in men even after years of abstinence. This finding contradicts other studies reporting that men spontaneously recovered their normal sexual performance at three weeks after quitting substance abuse. [More]

Contingency management benefits drug-dependent mental health patients

Contingency management significantly reduces stimulant drug use in dependent patients with serious mental illnesses, researchers report. [More]

Cannabis use linked to poorer cognition in dependent schizophrenia patients

Cumulative cannabis use is negatively associated with cognition in men with schizophrenia who are currently dependent on the drug, report researchers. [More]
Alcoholics Anonymous helps men and women maintain sobriety in different ways

Alcoholics Anonymous helps men and women maintain sobriety in different ways

A new study finds differences in the ways that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) helps men and women maintain sobriety. Two Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators found that, while many factors are helpful to all AA participants, some were stronger in men and some in women. [More]

Combination of mixed amphetamine salts and topiramate shows promise for cocaine dependence

Medication development efforts for cocaine dependence have yet to result in an FDA approved treatment. The powerful rewarding effects of cocaine, the profound disruptive impact of cocaine dependence on one's lifestyle, and the tendency of cocaine to attract people who make poor life choices and then exacerbate impulsive behavior all make cocaine a vexing clinical condition. [More]
Behavioural support programme to make TB patients quit smoking receives BUPA Foundation prize

Behavioural support programme to make TB patients quit smoking receives BUPA Foundation prize

The BUPA Foundation has awarded a high commendation prize for research led by the University of York into effective ways of helping tuberculosis patients in Pakistan to give up smoking. [More]