Addiction News and Research

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Modafinil may be a possible medicinal treatment for cocaine dependence

Cocaine dependence is a major public health problem affecting thousands of people around the globe. Despite years of active research there are still no approved medications for the treatment of this life-shattering addiction.

10 Jan 2005

Seven percent of college students have used prescription stimulants for non-medical purposes

Seven percent of college students have used prescription stimulants for non-medical purposes over their lifetimes and 4 percent have used in the past year, according to a study of students at 119 four-year colleges and universities nationwide published in the January issue of the journal Addiction.

10 Jan 2005

Scientists identify a protein that regulates alcohol-withdrawal seizures

Seizures are the most life-threatening, as well as disconcerting, symptoms of withdrawal in people who are alcoholics and who abruptly stop drinking. Heavy consumption of alcohol, or ethanol, the substance in beer, wine and liquor that is addictive, leads to changes in the brain.

10 Jan 2005

Evolution has been working very hard to produce us humans

The genes that regulate brain development and function evolved much more rapidly in humans than in nonhuman primates and other mammals because of natural selection processes unique to the human lineage. Researchers reported their findings in the cover article of the Dec. 29, 2004, issue of the journal Cell.

28 Dec 2004

Drinking water with high levels of arsenic increases risk of lung cancer

Residents of Taiwan who consumed drinking water with high levels of arsenic have a higher risk of lung cancer, with cigarette smokers from this group having an even greater risk, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA.

22 Dec 2004

Computational model of addiction which can be used to make predictions about human behavior

A University of Minnesota researcher developed a computational model of addiction which can be used to make predictions about human behavior, animal behavior, and neurophysiology.

13 Dec 2004

DNA provides key to successful quitting smoking

Smokers who want to quit now have up to nine times greater chance of doing so, thanks to new DNA testing launched today by Oxford University’s newest spin-out, G-Nostics.

4 Dec 2004

Having a job reduces likelihood of drug use

It's said that "idle hands are the devil's workshop." A pair of University of Houston professors studying employment and drug use now provide support for that proverb.

30 Nov 2004

British parents admit responsibility lies with them to tackle childhood obesity

More than 80% of parents say that they intend to be more accountable for their child's weight and four in five believe that measures set out in the Government's White Paper last week would go a long way to help them combat obesity in their children.

29 Nov 2004

New research into nicotine addiction

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded a $2.1 million contract to Perlegen Sciences, Inc., to investigate the human genome for DNA variations and candidate genes associated with nicotine addiction.

24 Nov 2004

Genetic defect boosts the chances of becoming addicted to tobacco

A genetic defect, which slows the liver's capacity to clear nicotine from the body, boosts the chances of becoming addicted to tobacco, finds research in Tobacco Control. The effects are particularly strong in new, young smokers, the study shows.

24 Nov 2004

Discovery of gene mutation in fruit flies that alters sensitivity to crack cocaine

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and New York University have discovered a gene mutation in fruit flies that alters sensitivity to crack cocaine and also regulates their internal body clock.

23 Nov 2004

Prolonged abstinence, no visual problems in patients taking GVG for meth/cocaine abuse

A second, small clinical trial of a proposed addiction treatment led by investigators at NYU School of Medicine and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has produced favorable results in the treatment of long-term addiction to methamphetamine and/or cocaine, with no visual side effects in any of the 30 patients enrolled.

18 Nov 2004

The brain's dopamine system is key to alcoholism

Among the many genes that may contribute to an individual's susceptibility to alcoholism, those in the dopamine system are of special interest because addictive substances can activate this system.

14 Nov 2004

New strain of mice to study nicotine addiction

A team of investigators supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, has created a strain of mice scientists can use to study nicotine addiction and its associated behaviors.

9 Nov 2004

Dopamine in the brain plays a key role in how we make choices

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying Parkinson's disease patients found strong evidence that dopamine in the brain plays a key role in how people implicitly learn to make choices that lead to good outcomes, while avoiding bad ones.

8 Nov 2004

After stopping drinking, the brain grows back - significant implications for treatment of alcoholism during recovery

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have reported - for the first time - a burst in new brain cell development during abstinence from chronic alcohol consumption.

8 Nov 2004

Problem gambling is a health issue that needs to be taken seriously

The United Kingdom is just about to undergo one of the most radical changes of gambling legislation in its history. The new gambling bill will provide the British public with increased opportunities and access to gambling like they have never seen before.

5 Nov 2004

alpha4 may prove to be useful target for smoking addiction therapies

Nicotine is responsible for more than four million smoking-related deaths each year. Yet people still smoke. Why? One reason is the stranglehold of addiction, started when nicotine enhances the release of a neurotransmitter called dopamine

4 Nov 2004

Quitting smoking can be made easier with long-term comprehensive drug and psychological interventions

People who want to quit smoking have an improved chance of success if they receive long-term comprehensive drug and psychological interventions, according to a new study by UCSF researchers.

4 Nov 2004