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New cancer drug shows promise to treat leukemia in mouse models

Almost 6,000 new cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, are expected to be diagnosed this year in the United States. The blood cancer can affect both children and adults.

9 Jun 2017

Cesarean patients prescribed more opioid pain medications than needed, study shows

Most women who undergo a cesarean childbirth are prescribed more opioid (narcotic) pain medications than needed upon release from the hospital, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study shows.

9 Jun 2017

Anti-heroin vaccine developed at TSRI proven effective in primate models

A vaccine developed at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to block the "high" of heroin has proven effective in non-human primates. This is the first vaccine against an opioid to pass this stage of preclinical testing.

6 Jun 2017

Recovery on the reservation: Montana sisters help peers stop using drugs

There’s a narrative about the meth epidemic in Montana that says the state tackled the problem in the 2000s yet it’s back with a vengeance because of super labs and drug cartels in Mexico. Within the Fort Belknap Indian Community, though, it never really went away.

6 Jun 2017

Opioid use gradually increases few years after bariatric surgery, study shows

While the proportion of adults with severe obesity using prescription opioids initially declines in the months after bariatric surgery, it increases within a matter of years, eventually surpassing pre-surgery rates of patients using the potentially addictive pain medications, according to new research from a National Institutes of Health -funded multicenter study led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

6 Jun 2017

Innocuous start to opioid addition: A 1980 letter that started it all

In a letter to the Editor published this Wednesday (31st May 2017), a group of Canadian researchers have disclosed how a sting of words coming from a notable doctor nearly 4 decades ago was the seed that led to a nationwide epidemic of misuse and abuse of opioid painkiller drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin.

1 Jun 2017

Internet withdrawal causes physiological changes in digitally-dependent people

Scientists and clinicians from Swansea and Milan have found that some people who use the internet a lot experience significant physiological changes such as increased heart rate and blood pressure when they finish using the internet.

31 May 2017

Oxytocin treatment may help overcome drug addiction, study suggests

Many people have suggested that addiction hijacks the body's natural drives in the service of compulsive drug use.

31 May 2017

Study finds opioid dependence and overdose rates after urologic surgery

About 1 in 1,111 patients who undergo urologic surgery for conditions such as prostate cancer and kidney stones experience opioid dependence or overdose (ODO), a Loyola Medicine study has found.

30 May 2017

Legalizing marijuana in Canada will jeopardize health of young people

The federal government's bill C-45 to legalize marijuana in Canada will jeopardize the health of young people and Parliament should vote against it, argues the interim editor-in-chief of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in an editorial http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.170555.

29 May 2017

Psychiatrist explains dangerous effects of cocaine addiction

Last year, almost a million in the UK people snorted, dabbed, smoked or injected cocaine, making it the second most popular drug in the country, after cannabis.

29 May 2017

Study finds direct link between adolescent lying and early alcohol usage

Adolescents who have a greater tendency to lie to their parents are also more likely to start using alcohol at an earlier age, while excessive parental supervision may aggravate rather than solve the problem.

25 May 2017

Role of toxicologists in addressing growing epidemic of opioid abuse

On a global level, it is estimated that 20% of adults suffer from pain, and 10% are being newly diagnosed with chronic pain each year.

25 May 2017

New findings provide insights into brain mechanisms underlying alcohol addiction

The human brain functions on a delicate balance of reinforcing positive behaviors and suppressing negative ones, which takes place in the dorsal striatum, a brain region critical for goal-directed behavior and implicated in drug and alcohol addiction.

25 May 2017

Drug-related cues increase craving, dopamine release in the brain of recreational cocaine users

Even among non-dependent cocaine users, cues associated with consumption of the drug lead to dopamine release in an area of the brain thought to promote compulsive use, according to researchers at McGill University.

24 May 2017

Opioid prescription for minor injuries increases risk of continued use and addiction

Overprescribing of opioid medications for pain has contributed to a record-high number of drug-related deaths in the United States in recent years.

18 May 2017

Self-treated pain can contribute to risk of frequent non-medical prescription opioid use

Physical pain--often "self-medicated" without help from healthcare professionals--is an important contributor to non-medical prescription opioid (NMPO) use by young adults, suggests a study in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

17 May 2017