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Addiction Treatment Strategies – Part 2

ER Data Reveals Opportunity to Intervene with Und…

Nearly one-third (30.5%) of alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits made by underage youth and young adults also involved illicit or pharmaceutical drugs in 2009, according to data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). The most prevalent drug reported was marijuana (51.0%), followed by sedatives/hypnotics (17.5%), cocaine (14.3%), and narcotic pain relievers (11.4%). Slightly more than 6% of underage alcohol-related ED visits involved ecstasy—more than twice as many as in 2008. All other drugs made up less than 5%. The study also found that nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of these visits that involved other drugs did not receive…

Genetic Variation Links Alcoholics And Liver Cirrh…

A new study by German researchers found that a variation in the PNPLA3 (adiponutrin) gene was associated with cirrhosis of the liver and elevated transaminase (liver enzyme) levels in alcoholic Caucasians. The risk of cirrhosis in alcoholics in the genetic high risk group might be as high as 25% to 50%. Full findings are published in the January 2011 issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) – ranging from alcoholic fatty liver to alcohol induced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis – accounts for more than 50% all chronic liver disease in industrialized…


How Marijuana Affects the Way the Brain Processes Emotional Information

Mar18

How Marijuana Affect…

ScienceDaily —
Drugs like marijuana act on naturally occurring receptors in the brain called cannabinoid receptors. However, the mechanisms by which these drugs produce their sensory and mood altering effects within the brain are largely unknown. Research led by Steven Laviolette at The…

Large-Scale Study On Treatment Of Prescription Opi…

Individuals addicted to prescription painkillers are more likely to succeed in treatment with the aid of the medication buprenorphine-naloxone (Suboxone), report McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers in the online edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
 
“Adjunctive Counseling During Brief and Extended Buprenorphine-Naloxone Treatment for Prescription Opioid Dependence,” is the first large-scale study to address treatment of prescription opioid addiction. According to lead author Roger Weiss, MD, Chief of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse at McLean Hospital, most studies examining treatments for…

New Leads On Alcoholism Causes

In order to develop new medications for alcoholism, researchers need to understand how alcohol acts on the brain’s reward system


Cocaine-linked genes enhance behavioral effects of addiction

Mar13

Cocaine-linked genes enhance behavioral effects of…

New research sheds light on how cocaine regulates gene expression in a crucial reward region of the brain to elicit long-lasting changes in behavior. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 14th issue of the journal Neuron, provides exciting insight into the molecular pathways regulated by cocaine and may lead to new strategies for battling drug addiction.
 It is well established that addictive drugs induce persistent changes in the brain’s reward circuits. Previous research has indicated that addiction to drugs such as cocaine is associated with altered gene expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region of the brain that…

‘Everyone’s not doing it’ messag…

Science is littered with shining new discoveries which became somewhat tarnished as accumulating data forced a reappraisal. In substance misuse, ‘normative education’ retains some of its shine, but what seemed the great hope for school- and college-based prevention now seems a tactic of limited application and with inconsistent impacts. The approach relies on the common overestimation by pupils and students of how many of their peers use substances and how much they use and/or (less commonly) overestimation of the acceptability of substance use among their peers. Corrective survey data is expected to reduce substance use because…

New York Doctors Report on Dangers of Four Loko

A report by doctors at New York’s Bellevue Hospital describes how 11 young people—10 of them under the legal drinking age of 21—were rushed to the emergency room after drinking the “alcopop” Four Loko. Some of the patients ended up in potentially deadly situations, according to NY1. One patient fell onto the subway tracks, another was unconscious at school, and a third was found alone in a park.
Four Loko and similar fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages contained caffeine at the time of the incidents. Last November, the Food and Drug Administration warned the makers of seven caffeinated alcoholic drinks, including Four Loko, that…


Rutgers receives $10 million in support of national efforts to track genetic causes of alcoholism

Mar08

Rutgers receives $10 million in support of nationa…

Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) has received a $10 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to provide DNA extraction, basic genetic testing, and repository services for more than 46,000 saliva samples, in support of national research efforts to determine the genetic and environmental factors that lead to alcoholism.
 
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, alcohol abuse and its related problems cost the United States billions of dollars each year in lost productivity; illness; property destruction, violence, and crime; and social welfare…