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Compulsively checking social media could be hurting our brain

You know that warm feeling you get when you see lots of likes from a Facebook or Instagram post? That's the reward system of your brain lighting up like fireflies on a dark summer night.

30 Jun 2018

Breast cancer studies not taking sufficient account of race, socioeconomic factors

Studies of breast cancer risk and treatment outcomes are not taking sufficient account of race/ethnicity, economic status, education level, health insurance status and other social factors, according to scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

28 Jun 2018

Doling out pain pills post-surgery: An ingrown toenail not the same as a bypass

What's the right painkiller prescription to send home with a patient after gallbladder surgery or a cesarean section?

22 Jun 2018

Religious involvement has no significant effect on misuse of prescription opioids, study finds

Does going to church help people avoid struggles with opioid abuse? New research from Florida State University says no.

20 Jun 2018

After opioid overdose, only 30 percent get medicine to treat addiction

More than 115 Americans die every day of opioid overdose. Many more survive thanks to the antidote medication, naloxone. But a study out Monday finds that just 3 in 10 patients revived by an EMT or in an emergency room received the follow-up medication known to avoid another life-threatening event.

19 Jun 2018

New study explores impact of religious practices on sleep quality

Can a person's religious practices impact their sleep quality? That's the focus of a new study by Christopher Ellison in The University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Sociology and his collaborators.

13 Jun 2018

How America got hooked on a deadly drug

Purdue Pharma left almost nothing to chance in its whirlwind marketing of its new painkiller OxyContin.

13 Jun 2018

Kate Spade’s death ignites concern about rising suicide rate

Fashion designer Kate Spade's death Tuesday has reminded Americans of the enormous toll of suicide, a growing problem that claims nearly 45,000 lives a year.

7 Jun 2018

With the rise of legal weed, drug education moves from ‘don’t’ to ‘delay’

California legalized marijuana in 2016, and this past New Year’s Eve eager customers lined up in the darkness outside medical marijuana dispensaries across the state, ready to start shopping at the stroke of midnight.

7 Jun 2018

Redaction of substance abuse data could result in long-term implications

Due to a change in federal regulation, from 2013-2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services redacted any health care encounter that included a diagnosis or procedure code related to substance abuse from the Medicare and Medicaid identifiable files.

5 Jun 2018

Traumatic childhood experiences of parents could negatively impact their own children's health

Trauma experienced by a parent during childhood has long-reaching consequences - maybe even to the point of negatively impacting their own children's health, a new Drexel University study found.

5 Jun 2018

Study sheds light on how medical providers use SO/GI data to treat patients

Collecting sexual orientation and gender identity, or "SO/GI," data has valuable public health benefits and potential clinical benefits for an individual patient, but medical providers must continue to collect information about patient experiences and behaviors, where clinically appropriate, and avoid making assumptions based on SO/GI data alone, according to a study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

4 Jun 2018

Depression symptoms can get worse without proper treatment

While it is common for everyone to feel down or sad at times, a person whose symptoms last for more than two weeks may be having a major depressive episode, according to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

31 May 2018

Exercise alters brain's dopamine system to help treat addiction, study finds

New research by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions has identified a key mechanism in how aerobic exercise can help impact the brain in ways that may support treatment - and even prevention strategies - for addiction.

25 May 2018

Children and adolescents growing up in extreme societal conditions more likely to resort to violence

Children and adolescents who grow up with one or more of these environmental risk factors are likely to resort to violence, aggression and crime as adults, irrespective of an underlying mental illness.

24 May 2018

Opioid overdoses are rising faster among Latinos than whites or blacks. Why?

The tall, gangly man twists a cone of paper in his hands as stories from nearly 30 years of addiction pour out: the robbery that landed him in prison at age 17; never getting his high school equivalency diploma; going through the horrors of detox, maybe 40 times, including this latest bout, which he finished two weeks ago. He’s now in a residential treatment unit for at least 30 days.

17 May 2018

Study identifies factors associated with substance use treatment engagement

About 22 million Americans are substance dependent (illicit drugs and alcohol), which interferes with routine life and requires treatment. Yet, only 2.5 million of these Americans participate in treatment services.

17 May 2018

Reversing an overdose isn’t complicated, but getting the antidote can be

A few months ago, Kourtnaye Sturgeon helped save someone’s life. She was driving in downtown Indianapolis when she saw people gathered around a car on the side of the road. Sturgeon pulled over, and a man told her there was nothing she could do: Two men had overdosed on opioids and appeared to be dead.

16 May 2018

Study lays foundation for treating drug, alcohol addicts with noninvasive brain stimulation

In a study investigating the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation for drug addiction, researchers at Medical University of South Carolina are the first to demonstrate that the noninvasive brain stimulation technique can dampen brain activity in response to drug cues in chronic alcohol users and chronic cocaine users.

15 May 2018