Abstinence News and Research

RSS

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.

Alcohol, cirrhosis and mortality

Where there is life there is hope and it is never too late to stop drinking, even with the most severe case of alcohol-related liver disease, according to new research from the University of Southampton.

15 Apr 2009

Stanford study shows PEPFAR program saved a million lives

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the ambitious U.S. government program begun in 2003, has cut the death toll from HIV/AIDS through 2007 by more than 10 percent in targeted countries in Africa, though it has had no appreciable effect on prevalence of the disease in those nations, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine that is the first to evaluate these outcomes.

6 Apr 2009

Inter Press service examines research into PrEP

Inter Press Service last week examined how researchers are investigating the use of antiretroviral drugs as a possible method of pre-exposure prophylaxis. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition's Executive Director Mitchell Warren recently said that such efforts are "a pivotal moment in HIV/AIDS research."

6 Apr 2009

Providing housing and support services for homeless alcoholics reduces costs to taxpayers

Providing housing and support services for homeless alcoholics costs taxpayers less than leaving them on the street, where taxpayer money goes towards police and emergency health care.

1 Apr 2009

New smoking cessation drug varenicline tartrate shows promise in trials

Research has shown that varenicline tartrate - a novel new drug specifically developed for smoking cessation - allows smokers to abstain from cigarettes significantly longer and more effectively than smokers using a placebo.

31 Mar 2009

Vatican distorted scientific evidence on condoms, HIV to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue

"The Vatican felt the heat from an unprecedented amount of international condemnation last week after Pope Benedict XVI made an outrageous and wildly inaccurate statement about HIV/AIDS," a Lancet editorial says.

30 Mar 2009

Responses to Pope's statement on condoms, HIV/AIDS

Newspapers recently published editorials and opinion pieces responding to Pope Benedict XVI's recent statement that condom distribution will not curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

23 Mar 2009

Key trends 'lost amid alarm' over District of Columbia HIV/AIDS report

A recent report that showed an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of about 3% in the District of Columbia "brought new attention to AIDS" in the city, but several "key trends shown in the report got lost amid the alarm," Washington Post reporter Craig Timberg writes in a recent article.

23 Mar 2009

Giving up smoking before surgery decreases complications

More than a third of patients who took part in an eight-week smoking cessation programme before and after planned surgery were able to give up and most of them were still smoke free after a year, according to research in the March issue of Anaesthesia.

12 Mar 2009

Birth control shot causes significant weight gain

Women using depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), commonly known as the birth control shot, gained an average of 11 pounds and increased their body fat by 3.4 percent over three years, according to researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).

4 Mar 2009

New report reveals serious flaws in abstinence programs

As Congress and states reconsider funding for abstinence-only programs, the largest study ever of what is taught in sexuality education classes reveals that abstinence programs are plagued with factual errors, use shame and fear to teach about sexuality and actively discourage the use of condoms to protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

24 Feb 2009

Hormone disorder drug cabergoline could help drinkers stay sober

A drug prescribed for male and female infertility and menstrual disorders could hold the key to a more effective treatment for alcoholism, according to a study by researchers at the UCSF-affiliated Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center.

23 Feb 2009

More evidence showing exercise helps people give up smoking

Research from the University of Exeter reveals for the first time, that changes in brain activity, triggered by physical exercise, may help reduce cigarette cravings.

10 Feb 2009

Topical treatment wipes out herpes with RNAi

Whether condoms or abstinence, most efforts to prevent sexually transmitted diseases have a common logic: keep the pathogen out of your body altogether.

21 Jan 2009

Nicotine gum effective for gradual smoking reduction and cessation

Nicotine gum has been in use for over 20 years to help smokers quit abruptly yet close to two-thirds of smokers report that they would prefer to quit gradually.

6 Jan 2009

Why stopping smoking is hard

Just seeing someone smoke can trigger smokers to abandon their nascent efforts to kick the habit, according to new research conducted at Duke University Medical Center.

5 Jan 2009

Researchers find brain's reward and stress signaling circuits are intertwined in complex ways

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have now discovered a functional link between reward and stress. They found that dopamine - the brain's chief reward signal - works through corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) - the brain's main stress signal - to increase the activity of a brain region involved in addiction relapse.

16 Dec 2008

Sugar is addictive

A Princeton University scientist will present new evidence today demonstrating that sugar can be an addictive substance, wielding its power over the brains of lab animals in a manner similar to many drugs of abuse.

10 Dec 2008

Researchers find inherited genetic variation in nicotine addiction

A new study from the Abramson Cancer Center and Department of Psychiatry in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows that smokers who carry a particular version of a gene for an enzyme that regulates dopamine in the brain may suffer from concentration problems and other cognitive deficits when abstaining from nicotine - a problem that puts them at risk for relapse during attempts to quit smoking.

10 Dec 2008

Etanercept found to be ineffective in treating alcoholic hepatitis

A new study from Mayo Clinic finds the use of the drug therapy etanercept ineffective in treating alcoholic hepatitis, an acute inflammation of the liver caused by excessive consumption of alcohol. The results of the study are published in the December issue of Gastroenterology.

1 Dec 2008