Addiction News and Research

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More HIV infections linked to injection drug use in East Africa, report finds

Greenwich Hospital offers spiritual care to patients

People expect their medical needs to be satisfied when in the hospital, but how about their spiritual, emotional and cultural needs? These are also important to the healing process and, at Greenwich Hospital, it's the spiritual care chaplains who make sure doctors understand how to address these patient needs.

2 May 2011

Annapolis Coalition selects 7 behavioral health organizations for Pacesetter Award

Seven behavioral health organizations with outstanding business practices have been selected by the Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce and the Hitachi Foundation as the 2011 National Behavioral Health Pacesetter Award Winners and Programs of Merit.

30 Apr 2011

Early interventions can help cease smoking

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of premature, preventable death in the United States. Each year smoking causes an average of 438,000 deaths from cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.

30 Apr 2011

Brain function variations may increase person's risk of drug abuse

One can look at drug addiction as a moral issue, a social ill, or a criminal problem. But Lynn Oswald's experience studying the neuroscience of addiction tells her that it is something else entirely: a disease of the brain.

30 Apr 2011

Scientists weaken long-term memory

Could veterans of war, rape victims and other people who have seen horrific crimes someday have the traumatic memories that haunt them weakened in their brains? In a new study, UCLA life scientists report a discovery that may make the reduction of such memories a reality.

28 Apr 2011

The Lancet publishes phase 3 clinical study data on VIVITROL for treatment of opioid dependence

Alkermes, Inc. today announced that results from the phase 3 clinical study of VIVITROL® (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) in opioid dependence have been published by The Lancet. The six-month, phase 3 trial met its primary endpoint and showed significantly greater opioid-free weeks among patients treated with VIVITROL, compared to placebo.

28 Apr 2011

FDA rules e-cigarettes as tobacco products and plans regulations

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled that electronic cigarettes should be considered tobacco products. E-cigarettes are small plastic or metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating a vapor that is then inhaled. They are marketed as a way to help smokers quit by addressing their addiction and the behavioral aspects of smoking.

26 Apr 2011

Research sheds light on molecular movements of neural transporters

A team of scientists from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College has shed light on the molecular workings of transporter proteins, molecular machines embedded in the cell membranes of neurons that modulate the transfer of signals between cells and recycle neurotransmitters.

25 Apr 2011

Convergence initiates CNV2197944 Phase I study in chronic pain

Convergence Pharmaceuticals Limited, the company focused on the development of novel and high value analgesic medicines, today announced that the first-time-in-man Phase I study of the novel, first in class calcium channel blocker CNV2197944, for the treatment of chronic pain has been initiated and dosing has begun.

22 Apr 2011

Opinions: Eliminating TB; HIV prevention trial; Reducing stillbirths; Foreign aid, global stability; Safe injection sites

In a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece, African Health Ministers Aaron Motsoaledi of South Africa, Mphu Ramatlapeng of Lesotho, and Benedict Xaba of Swaziland call upon the international community to join with them in the fight to rid the world of tuberculosis (TB). "That goal might seem overambitious or unrealistic. [But i]t's not," they write

21 Apr 2011

IPSY programme leads children to say 'no' to cigarettes and alcohol

Their numbers are rising, but their age is dropping: children and young adults who drink so much that they have to go to the hospital. Binge-drinking is sadly fashionable amongst the under 20-year-olds. But how can adolescents be effectively protected from alcohol and substance abuse?

20 Apr 2011

North American legal injection drug site helps decrease overdose deaths, study shows

North America's only authorized facility for injecting illegal drugs has helped cut drug overdose deaths significantly in the Vancouver community where it is located and "should be used as a model in other cities," according to a study published on Monday in the Lancet, Reuters reports (Dowd, 4/18).

20 Apr 2011

Plans to combat painkiller abuse

This Tuesday, the Obama administration announced a plan to fight prescription drug abuse, warning that accidental fatal overdoses now exceed the combined deadly overdoses from the crack epidemic of the 1980s and black tar heroin in the 1970s.

19 Apr 2011

Vancouver's supervised injection site reduces overdose mortality rates to 35%

Illicit drug overdose deaths in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside dropped by 35 per cent after the establishment of Insite, North America's first supervised injection facility, according a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

19 Apr 2011

NIDA launches Addiction Performance Project for primary care providers

The National Institute on Drug Abuse announced today the launch of its Addiction Performance Project, an innovative continued medical education program designed to help primary care providers break down the stigma associated with addiction.

19 Apr 2011

Study highlights deceptive potential of 'slim', 'silver' and 'gold' cigarette brands

Despite current prohibitions on the words 'light' and 'mild', smokers in Western countries continue falsely to believe that some cigarette brands may be less harmful than others. In fact, all conventional brands of cigarette present the same level of risk to smokers, including 'mild' and 'low-tar' brands.

12 Apr 2011