Abstinence News and Research

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Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging a desire or appetite for certain bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to abstention from sexual intercourse, alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical considerations.

Virginia Tech addiction expert receives $3.2 million grant to help smokers quit cigarettes

Warren Bickel, an internationally recognized addiction expert at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, recently received a $3.2-million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for research on improving self-control in smokers seeking to quit cigarettes. The grant will provide Bickel's team with $573,000 to $716,000 a year over five years to develop innovative new ways to enhance the smokers' ability to abstain from acting on their nicotine cravings.

6 Aug 2013

USF professor receives grant to study ways to reduce HIV/AIDS risk in college-aged black women

The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) awarded $267,732 to the University of South Florida College of Nursing to study ways to reduce HIV/AIDS risk in college-aged black women, who are disproportionately affected by the disease. Rasheeta D. Chandler, PhD, ARNP, FNP-BC, assistant professor of nursing at USF, will lead the study.

31 Jul 2013

Study supports topiramate as promising medication to treat addiction

The drug topiramate, typically used to treat epilepsy and more recently weight loss, may also help people addicted to both cocaine and alcohol use less cocaine, particularly heavy users, researchers in the department of Psychiatry at Penn Medicine report in a new study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

19 Jul 2013

School’s suspension policy can prevent students from drinking

"Just say no" has been many a parent's mantra when it comes to talking to their children about drugs or alcohol. Schools echo that with specific policies against illicit use on school grounds. But do those school policies work?

10 Jul 2013

NIDA grants $3.3M to design vaccine conferring immunity to nicotine

A chemical component present in the nightshade family of plants is one of the world's most tenaciously addictive substances. It is the nicotine contained in tobacco and found in high concentrations in cigarettes. Smoking remains a global scourge; in the U.S. it is the leading source of preventable death.

3 Jul 2013

UH receives NIDA grant to study transdiagnostic CBT to address tobacco cessation

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. resulting in more than 440,000 premature deaths a year. An additional 25 million smokers will most likely die of a smoking related illness.

27 Jun 2013

Survey finds at least 20% of Ontario adolescents had TBI in their lifetime

One in five adolescents surveyed in Ontario said they have suffered a traumatic brain injury that left them unconscious for five minutes or required them to be hospitalized overnight, a statistic researchers in Toronto say is much higher than previously thought.

26 Jun 2013

New study points to potential strategy for erasing memory of addiction

A new study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco offers encouraging findings that researchers hope may one day lead to a treatment option for people who suffer from alcohol abuse disorders and other addictions.

25 Jun 2013

Study reveals surprising patterns of racial disparities for successful drug treatment

A University of Iowa study reveals significant disparities between minority and white clients in success rates for completing substance abuse treatment programs. Moreover, these disparities vary widely from state to state.

20 Jun 2013

Anti-nicotine vaccination can increase accumulation of nicotine in the brain, say neuroscientists

Researchers have yet again been sent back to the drawing board in the development of the much-sought-after vaccination for smokers, which would hypothetically inhibit the action of nicotine and its pleasure-producing chemical response in the brain.

12 Jun 2013

Study to help scientists better understand brain behavior, treat brain disease

A cross-disciplinary collaboration of researchers in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis explores the neural synchrony between circuits in the brain and their behavior under simulated drug addiction.

5 Jun 2013

Study examines effects of smoking on cognitive functioning in AD individuals

Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic.

18 May 2013

Advances in lung cancer treatment have major impact on short- and long-term outcomes

The American College of Chest Physicians third edition of evidence-based lung cancer guidelines, Diagnosis and Management of Lung Cancer, 3rd ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, recommends offering low-dose computed tomography scanning for lung cancer screening to people with a significant risk of lung cancer due to age and smoking history.

8 May 2013

Nalmefene can provide important clinical benefit for alcohol-dependent patients

A potential new treatment for alcoholism called nalmefene is effective and safe for reducing alcohol consumption in alcohol dependent individuals, says a new study published this week in Biological Psychiatry.

12 Apr 2013

UAB School of Nursing offers health care services in rural communities

"If individuals, families, and communities don't have access, then they don't have the opportunity for a better life," asserts University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Dean Doreen C. Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN.

3 Apr 2013

Smokers trying to quit will have better experience with varenicline, study finds

Smokers have a higher probability of quitting smoking and a better overall cessation experience when taking varenicline compared to bupropion and to placebo - unmedicated assisted smoking cessation -according to a study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

28 Mar 2013

Healthy lifestyle may help prolong lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease

Certain lifestyle factors—such as not smoking, getting regular physical activity, and avoiding a low body weight—may help prolong the lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

25 Mar 2013

Viewpoints: 'Namby-pamby' Democratic budget offer; Murray argues her plan is responsible; Officials can force hospitals to fix pricing for uninsured

In the absence of an emergency, Washington can and should bring its budget into balance, even though that requires doing what politicians despise: for Republicans, raising taxes; for Democrats, curbing the rapid growth in benefit programs such as Medicare and Social Security that already make up three-fifths of federal spending.

16 Mar 2013

Unmet need for modern contraceptive methods projected to reach more than 230 million women worldwide by 2015

New research on contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for contraception in married or co-habiting women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years), based on data from 194 countries, suggests that although the proportion of women in this group using contraception has risen in the last two decades, and unmet need has fallen, 233 million married or co-habiting women are projected to have an unmet need for modern contraceptive methods by 2015.

12 Mar 2013

Cannabis can be detected in blood of chronic daily smokers for a month after last intake

New research appearing online today in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of AACC, shows that cannabis can be detected in the blood of daily smokers for a month after last intake.

2 Mar 2013