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Social dynamics, family history critical to identifying patients most likely to abuse pain medicines

Patients undergoing rehabilitation for physical injuries and their physicians can better understand who is most at risk of abusing opioids by reviewing their family history, lifestyle and environment for critical cues about susceptibility to addiction, according to physical medicine and rehabilitation experts.

6 Oct 2015

Promising drug candidate for chronic intractable itch

If you have an itch, you have to scratch it. But that’s a problem for people with a condition called “chronic intractable itch,” where that itchy sensation never goes away—a difficult-to-treat condition closely associated with dialysis and renal failure.

28 Sep 2015

ABAM Foundation accredits nine additional fellowship programs to expand training in addiction medicine

The American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation today announced the accreditation of nine additional fellowship programs to train addiction medicine physicians. With the addition of these programs, the total number of ABAM Foundation accredited training programs has reached 36.

26 Sep 2015

NIH-supported study explores effects of substance use on adolescent brain development

The National Institutes of Health today awarded 13 grants to research institutions around the country as part of a landmark study about the effects of adolescent substance use on the developing brain.

26 Sep 2015

WSU awarded nearly $1 million to train social workers and nurses in SBIRT

Wayne State University has been awarded nearly $1 million to train social work and nursing students to assess patients in primary care settings for substance abuse behaviors.

24 Sep 2015

People in addiction treatment programs more likely to use tobacco

People in addiction treatment programs around the world use tobacco at two to three times the rate of people who are not being treated for addiction, according to a review of research studies from 20 countries other than the United States.

23 Sep 2015

Study reports use of new psychoactive drugs in US nationally representative survey

In recent years, there has been an increase in emergence and use of a variety of new drugs, so-called "novel psychoactive substances" (NPS) in the US and worldwide.

16 Sep 2015

Three studies point to mGluR2 as new molecular target for addiction treatment

The latest issue of Biological Psychiatry presents the results of three studies implicating metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGluR2) as a new molecular target for the treatment of addiction.

15 Sep 2015

NYUCN researchers study sexual transmission of HCV among HIV-positive MSM

While sexual contact is not the most efficient means of hepatitis C (HCV) transmission, there have been several reports of outbreaks of sexually transmitted HCV in HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM). HCV infections are more likely to become persistent and to lead to progressive liver disease in people who are HIV-infected, even if they are receiving HIV treatment. Factors underlying these infections in HIV-positive MSM are only partially understood.

14 Sep 2015

Study shows half of adolescents misuse their prescription drugs

Although prescription drug misuse is on the decline among adolescents, one in two patients tested between the ages of 10 and 17 years are not using their medications appropriately, potentially putting their health at risk, according to an analysis by Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services.

From Quest Diagnostics 11 Sep 2015

Old prescription medicines may cause more harm than good

Many of us are guilty of neglecting our medicine cabinet - specifically, our prescriptions. Sometimes we feel the need to hang onto them, perhaps because they were costly or "just in case."

10 Sep 2015

Study points to genetic/metabolic factors that make people vulnerable to nicotine addiction

In a study with 18 adults who had never smoked, scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have demonstrated one of the earliest steps — nicotine "reinforcement" — in the process of addiction, and shown that some people are far more vulnerable to nicotine addiction than others.

10 Sep 2015

New Duke study finds that teenage kids are more economically rational than young adults

Teenagers are irrational and make bad decisions. Or do they? A new Duke study finds that adolescents ages 10 to 16 can be more analytical in their economic choices than many slightly older young adults.

9 Sep 2015

Ex-prisoners with common psychiatric disorders more likely to commit violent crimes after release

Ex-prisoners with common psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder) and alcohol and drug abuse are substantially more likely to commit a violent crime after release than other prisoners, according to new research published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.

4 Sep 2015

Research findings may help explain why drug treatments for addiction, depression are not always effective

New research may help explain why drug treatments for addiction and depression don't work for some patients. The conditions are linked to reward and aversion responses in the brain. Working in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered brain pathways linked to reward and aversion behaviors are in such close proximity that they unintentionally could be activated at the same time.

3 Sep 2015

IV drug abusers who undergo infective endocarditis surgery face higher risk of reoperation or death

Injection drug users who undergo surgery for infective endocarditis (IE) have a significantly higher risk of reoperation or death between 3 and 6 months after surgery compared to patients who develop endocarditis who are not IV drug abusers, according to an article in the September 2015 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

1 Sep 2015

One in every 17 college students smokes marijuana on daily or near-daily basis

Daily marijuana use among the nation's college students is on the rise, surpassing daily cigarette smoking for the first time in 2014.

1 Sep 2015

UVM-led research team to study benefits of integrating behavioral health care with medical care

A University of Vermont-led research team has received approval for $18.5 million in funding to study whether patients with both medical and behavioral problems do better when their primary care physicians work in combination with behavioral health professionals including psychologists and social workers.

28 Aug 2015

AMA Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse announces national recommendations to address opioid crisis

Opioid abuse is a serious public health problem that has reached crisis levels across the United States, with 44 people dying each day from overdose of opioids, and many more becoming addicted. Recognizing the urgency and serious impact of this issue on the health of hundreds of thousands of patients across the country, today the American Medical Association Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse announced the first of several national recommendations to address this growing epidemic.

25 Aug 2015

Scientists reveal link between smaller hippocampal brain volume and marijuana use

How scientists study the effects of marijuana on the brain is changing. Until recently marijuana research largely excluded tobacco users from its participant pool, but scientists at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas have found reason to abandon this practice, uncovering significant differences in the brains of individuals who use both tobacco and marijuana and the brains of those who only use marijuana.

19 Aug 2015