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Cocaine addicts have an altered perception of reward

People addicted to cocaine have an impaired ability to perceive rewards and exercise control due to disruptions in the brain's reward and control circuits, according to a series of brain-mapping studies and neuropsychological tests conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

16 Oct 2006

New guide to help countries prevent violence against children

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a practical new guide to help countries prevent violence against children. Children are the victims of startling levels of violence, often at the hands of those who should be protecting them.

16 Oct 2006

Research implicates brain circuits involved in drug craving and emotional response to food

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found new clues to how the brain and the stomach interact with emotions to cause overeating and obesity.

2 Oct 2006

New clues about virulence of 1918 influenza virus

The first comprehensive analysis of an animal's immune response to the 1918 influenza virus provides new insights into the killer flu, report federally supported scientists in an article appearing online in the journal Nature.

28 Sep 2006

Parents too often unaware of child's drug abuse

According to the latest research parents do not provide valuable information about their children's use of alcohol and drugs because they are often unaware of it; and this is true of even the most observant parents, with the most open family relationships who are often oblivious to their children's use and abuse of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

25 Sep 2006

NIH launches "Knockout Mouse Project"

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project.

7 Sep 2006

Prevention programs for teens can reduce methamphetamine abuse

New research supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, shows that prevention programs conducted in middle school can reduce methamphetamine abuse among rural adolescents years later.

4 Sep 2006

Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder

Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found. Each U.S. worker with bipolar disorder averaged 65.5 lost workdays in a year, compared to 27.2 for major depression.

4 Sep 2006

Deadly duo of crime and drug abuse can be cut by effective treatments

According to a landmark scientific report released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), money would be saved and crime would be reduced if communities put into place effective treatments for drug abuse and addiction.

26 Jul 2006

Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States

Trends analysis of drug poisoning deaths has helped explain a national epidemic of overdose deaths in the USA that began in the 1990s, concludes Leonard Paulozzi and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

24 Jul 2006

Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States

24 Jul 2006

Psychotherapeutic interventions for cannabis abuse

Marijuana dependence and abuse can be moderately improved by various psychotherapy treatments - but reduced use rather than abstinence may be the best clinicians can hope for at this time, a new review finds.

21 Jul 2006

Hallucinogen in mushrooms creates mystical/spiritual experiences

Using unusually rigorous scientific conditions and measures, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that the active agent in "sacred mushrooms" can induce mystical/spiritual experiences descriptively identical to spontaneous ones people have reported for centuries.

11 Jul 2006

Brain chemistry finding suggests new target for addiction treatments

Ask anyone who has been addicted to drugs and they'll tell you that the mere sight of someone using their drug of choice - or even people, places, or objects associated with drug use - can trigger an intense desire for the drug.

14 Jun 2006

Anger syndrome not just bouts of bad behaviour

Researchers in the United States are saying that Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) often known as Road Rage, may be far more common than previously thought.

6 Jun 2006

Intermittent explosive disorder is more common than previously thought

A little-known mental disorder marked by episodes of unwarranted anger is more common than previously thought, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found.

5 Jun 2006

Most disabled people in L. America don't get appropriate help

Only 2 percent of some 85 million disabled people in Latin America have received medical help appropriate to their needs, said a report published on Friday.

16 May 2006

That dreadful feeling - most choose more pain sooner rather than less later

According to research into why people experience the feeling of dread, a team of Emory neuroscientists led by Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine the areas of the brain that are activated when someone gets that dreadful feeling.

9 May 2006

fMRI used to show dread responses in brain

In order to better understand how people make decisions when the outcomes are known to be unpleasant, a team of Emory neuroscientists led by Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine the areas of the brain that are activated when someone experiences dread.

8 May 2006

Exposure to cocaine before birth not linked to bad behavior in kids

Toddlers exposed to cocaine before birth exhibit no more behavioral problems than other children their age, despite early predictions that "crack babies" would grow up to be delinquents, University of Florida researchers say.

3 May 2006