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Need for routine voluntary screening for HIV

A new cost-effectiveness analysis has led researchers from Duke University Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System to recommend that routine voluntary screening for HIV

10 Feb 2005

Expanded HIV screening can increase patient life span

Expanded HIV screening can increase patient life span, prevent the spread of the disease, and is cost effective, researchers at Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts General Hospital report in the February 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

10 Feb 2005

Chronic nicotine exposure worsens some Alzheimer’s-related brain abnormalities

UCI researchers have determined that chronic nicotine exposure worsens some Alzheimer’s-related brain abnormalities, contradicting the common belief that nicotine can actually be used to treat the disease.

9 Feb 2005

Marijuana changes blood flow in the brain

People who smoked marijuana had changes in the blood flow in their brains even after a month of not smoking, according to a study published in the February 8 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

7 Feb 2005

New way to assess the potentially damaging effects of prenatal drug exposure

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to assess the potentially damaging effects of prenatal drug exposure--a technique that could also be used to monitor a fetus's response to therapeutic drugs--using sophisticated, noninvasive medical imaging tools.

7 Feb 2005

Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood may increase HIV risk

Living in a disadvantaged urban neighborhood can increase a male residents’ risk of contracting HIV, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their study related disadvantaged neighborhoods to stress and stress to increased injection drug use in male study participants.

24 Jan 2005

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

Elementary school intervention boosts positive functioning in early childhood

An elementary school intervention program that taught children impulse control and gave their teachers and parents better management skills has long-lasting effects extending into early adulthood, showing that the children are more productive and well-adjusted members of society at age 21, according to a new study.

4 Jan 2005

Teen concerns about inhalants and painkiller use

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, results from the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey indicate an almost 7 percent decline of any illicit drug use in the past month by 8th, 10th, and 12th graders combined from 2003 to 2004.

21 Dec 2004

Newly discovered genetic defect might represent an important risk factor for major depression

A newly discovered genetic defect might represent an important risk factor for major depression, a condition which effects 20 million people in the U.S., according to Duke University Medical Center researchers.

13 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

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

Pyramid sampling method to be used to track HIV-risk behavior among drug users in 25 cities

What's the best way to get a statistically reliable sample of people who are hard to identify, such as illegal-drug users in large cities, itinerant jazz musicians, aging Manhattan artists and semi-professional storytellers?

20 Nov 2004

Large increase in male mentally ill drug abusers

The amount of mentally ill male drug abusers has increased by more than 79% in five years across England and Wales, finds research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

16 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

High school students most likely to say they wanted to quit smoking to save money

Despite smoking's documented health risks, teens may be more worried about its damage to their wallets, a new study suggests.

8 Nov 2004

African American HIV patients treated by white doctors receive life-saving HIV medication later than those who have an African American doctor

"Does Racial Concordance Between HIV-Positive Patients and Their Physicians Affect the Time to Receipt of Protease Inhibitors?" is published in the November issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

4 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