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Multiple childhood maltreatments lead to underage binge drinking

Researchers from Boston University found that multiple types of child maltreatment are robust risk factors for underage binge drinking based on a national multi-year study that explored the influence of social environment on the health of adolescents.

2 Apr 2009

Researchers examine relationship between multiple births and maternal depressive symptoms

Mothers of multiples have 43 percent increased odds of having moderate to severe depressive symptoms nine months after giving birth compared to mothers of single-born children, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

30 Mar 2009

Discovery of new molecular mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids

Dale Deutsch, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University and colleagues discovered a new molecular mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids, brain compounds similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and essential in physiological processes such as pain, appetite, and memory.

24 Mar 2009

Discovery of new mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids

New research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has identified a new mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids, natural brain compounds similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

17 Mar 2009

Disparities in stroke outcomes between black and white patients still great

In Florida, black young adults are hospitalized for stroke at a rate three times higher than their white and Hispanic peers, a new study by University of South Florida researchers reports.

15 Mar 2009

Combination of genes and prenatal exposure to smoking increases teens' risk of disruptive behavior

A study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a component of the National Institutes of Health, shows that prenatal exposure to smoking combined with a specific genetic variant places children at greatest risk for behavioral problems.

5 Mar 2009

Multiple childhood maltreatments lead to greater adolescent binge drinking

3 Mar 2009

Recent drug use masks cocaine abusers' cognitive impairment

Recent cocaine use may hide some of the cognitive deficits commonly experienced by individuals addicted to cocaine, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory report in a study published in the April 2009 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology - a special issue dedicated to cocaine research.

3 Mar 2009

Untreated psychiatric disorders common in single mothers on welfare

Urban single mothers nearing the end of their welfare eligibility appear more likely to have substance use and psychiatric disorders than women in the general population, and often do not receive treatment, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

2 Mar 2009

New insights into addiction

A new comprehensive review by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University and the University of Cambridge, England provides vital insights into the neurological basis of addiction by investigating Parkinson's disease patients, who in some instances develop various addictions when undergoing medical treatment.

25 Feb 2009

Treating drug-addicted doctors is good medicine

Doctors who become addicted to alcohol and other drugs can be treated successfully and returned to medical practice with the help of special programs that couple referral to treatment and monitoring with rapid responses to noncompliance, University of Florida researchers report.

24 Feb 2009

Ondansetron shown to be a viable treatment option for opioid addiction

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that a commonly available non-addictive drug can prevent symptoms of withdrawal from opioids with little likelihood of serious side effects.

18 Feb 2009

New guidelines for prescribing opioid pain drugs

A prestigious panel of pain-management experts representing the American Pain Society (APS) www.ampainsoc.org and the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) has published the first comprehensive clinical practice guideline to assist clinicians in prescribing potent opioid pain medications for patients with chronic non-cancer pain.

10 Feb 2009

Marijuana use may increase risk of testicular cancer

Frequent and/or long-term marijuana use may significantly increase a man's risk of developing the most aggressive type of testicular cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

9 Feb 2009

The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States

The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005, including the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and many other aspects of the drug, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

5 Feb 2009

The end of sex as we once knew it

Women are not from Venus any more than men are from Mars. But even though both sexes are perfectly terrestrial beings, they are not lacking in other differences. And not only in their reproductive organs and behavior, either, but in such unsexy characteristics as the propensity for drug abuse, fine motor control, reaction to stress, moods and many brain structures.

2 Feb 2009

Discovery of brain's memory 'buffer' in single cells

Individual nerve cells in the front part of the brain can hold traces of memories on their own for as long as a minute and possibly longer, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

27 Jan 2009

The impact of substance use disorders on medical expenditures for Medicaid beneficiaries with behavioral health disorders

People with substance abuse disorders cost Medicaid hundreds of millions of dollars annually in medical care, suggesting that early interventions for substance abuse could not only improve outcomes but also save substantial amounts of money, according to a comprehensive study that examined records of nearly 150,000 people in six states.

5 Jan 2009

Risk takers do so because their brains are less able to process dopamine

According to scientists risk takers and drug abusers behave the way they do because their brains are less able to process dopamine.

30 Dec 2008

Researchers find brain's reward and stress signaling circuits are intertwined in complex ways

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have now discovered a functional link between reward and stress. They found that dopamine - the brain's chief reward signal - works through corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) - the brain's main stress signal - to increase the activity of a brain region involved in addiction relapse.

16 Dec 2008