Addiction News and Research

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Depression and smoking link

Ever wonder why smoking and depression seem to go together? A Saint Louis University School of Public Health researcher finds the connection is genetic.

17 Jul 2007

Drinking behaviour is affected by culture, upbringing and the immediate social environment.

Men, extrovert people and those with positive expectations regarding alcohol use drink more than others, says Dutch psychologist Sander Bot.

13 Jul 2007

Half a million young adult crystal meth users in U.S.

More than half a million young adults reported use in the past year of crystal meth in 2001- 2002, according to a new nationally representative study.

11 Jul 2007

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners starts U.S. phase II trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. a specialty pharmaceutical company that acquires or in-licenses, develops and commercializes prescription drugs for the treatment of drug addiction, today announced that it has initiated its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled U.S. Phase II clinical trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence.

11 Jul 2007

National study to treat addiction to prescription pain medications

Researchers funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, launched the first large-scale national study evaluating a treatment for addiction to prescription opioid analgesics (i.e., painkillers) such as Vicodin and OxyContin.

10 Jul 2007

Just one smoke can lead to nicotine addiction

A new study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows that 10 percent of youth who become hooked on cigarettes are addicted within two days of first inhaling from a cigarette, and 25 percent are addicted within a month.

4 Jul 2007

Targeted nalmefene with simple medical management in the treatment of heavy drinkers

Problem drinkers who took a craving-curbing drug whenever they felt the desire to imbibe reported fewer heavy drinking days each month than drinkers who took a look-alike placebo pill, but both groups reported marked reductions in heavy drinking days.

4 Jul 2007

War trauma set to increase in the UK

The number of UK veterans suffering the debilitating effects of war trauma is set to increase, according to a University of Nottingham academic.

4 Jul 2007

Cigarette taxes do reduce smoking but can lead to bootlegging

Increasing cigarette taxes is an effective strategy for reducing tobacco use but there may be negative consequences especially in disadvantaged minority communities.

29 Jun 2007

Abuse of prescription drugs

Increasingly, drug abusers are getting their next fix from their medicine cabinets, instead of from drug dealers.

26 Jun 2007

New therapeutic vaccines help kick drug habits

A pair of new vaccines designed to combat cocaine and methamphetamine dependencies not only relieve addiction but also minimize withdrawal symptoms, according to study results presented by Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) researchers at the Annual Meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence in Quebec City, Canada.

23 Jun 2007

Heavy drinking leads to early senile dementia

Constant alcohol consumption results not only in cognitive disorders but can elicit symptoms of senile dementia in people as young as in their forties.

20 Jun 2007

Turn-ons and turn-offs for neurons

Our brain consists of billions of nerve cells enabling to learn, remember and reason.

20 Jun 2007

50 million Europeans suffer from neurological diseases

About 50 million people in the EU suffer from neurological diseases such as epilepsy, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, strokes and dementia.

18 Jun 2007

Hazardous drinking causes nearly half of deaths in working-age Russian men

Hazardous alcohol drinking causes 43% of deaths in Russian men aged 25-54, conclude authors of a study published in The Lancet.

17 Jun 2007

Gastric bypass surgery gets people 'drunk' faster

An Oprah Winfrey-inspired study done by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery to lose weight will get drunk faster and take longer to get sober.

17 Jun 2007

Brits and their 'booze culture' costing 20 billion pounds each year

In a new report on alcohol consumption in Britain the drinking culture there is being blamed for health, crime and disorder problems which cost the nation as much as 20 billion pounds each year.

5 Jun 2007

Link between khat use and mental illness

Researchers investigating the evidence for a potential causal link between khat use and mental illness - in the first ever systematic review of the topic - have called for improved research on the stimulant plant, and its possible association with psychiatric disorders.

5 Jun 2007

Modafinil (Provigil) alleviates post-chemotherapy fogginess

A drug described by some people as a genius pill for enhancing cognitive function provided relief to a small group of Rochester breast cancer survivors who were coping with a side effect known as chemo-brain, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study.

5 Jun 2007

Gene therapy provides hope for peripheral neuropathy

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine report that they have successfully used gene therapy to block the pain response in an animal model of neuropathic pain, a type of chronic pain in people for which there are few effective treatments.

1 Jun 2007