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The study, reported in the journal  Neuroscience , found that amphetamine leads to changes in dopamine signaling. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in memory, attention, learning and feelings of pleasure. "The dopamine system, which continues to develop throughout adolescence and young adulthood, is a primary target of psychostimulant drugs like amphetamine," said University of Illinois psychology professor Joshua Gulley, who led the new research. "Changes in dopamine function in response to repeated drug exposure are likely to contribute to the behavioral consequences -- addiction and relapse, for example -- that abusers experience." Parallels between rat and human development make rats a worthy model for the study of human drug addiction, which often begins in adolescence , Gulley said. "Rats exhibit many of the characteristics that human adolescents do. They tend to be more impulsive than adult rats; they tend to make more risky decisi...

All opioids could be harmful, even lethal, at excessive doses. Credit score: Texas A&M Well being Science Middle Most individuals know that heroin is a harmful drug, however its cousins, the authorized, pharmaceutical opioids, resembling codeine or hydrocodone, have to be secure, proper? Not so quick. Opioids -- which embody the unlawful drug heroin in addition to prescription drugs, together with hydrocodone (resembling Vicodin), oxycodone (resembling OxyContin and Percocet), morphine and codeine -- could be harmful, even lethal, at excessive doses. "Opioid abuse is rising exponentially," mentioned Alva O. Ferdinand, Dr.PH, J.D., assistant professor on the Texas A&M Well being Science Middle Faculty of Public Well being. Charges of overdoses and deaths attributable to opioid abuse are alarming lawmakers and well being care suppliers in any respect ranges of presidency and well being care. "The issue is e...

While all 50 states have adopted a core minimum legal drinking age of 21, a large number of states have adopted expanded underage drinking laws. Those additional laws were the focus of research done by a team at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation ( PIRE ) in Calverton, Maryland, and which will be published in the March 2016 issue of the  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs . Of the 20 expanded underage drinking laws that were identified, nine were found to be particularly effective in reducing the number of fatal crashes involving underage drinking drivers. The authors examined each law's strengths and weaknesses in terms of coverage, sanctions for violations, exceptions, and ease of enforcement. Results showed wide variability in the strength of each underage drinking law and in the number of states that have adopted them. "We were surprised to find that half of the states have adopted 13 or fewer laws, that only five can be found in all 50 states and...

For patients battling opioid addiction, the other common treatment is the once-a-day methadone or suboxone, which both activate the same neurological receptors as heroin, but prevent withdrawal and relapse. Methadone remains controversial, with many in the criminal justice system viewing it as merely exchanging one drug addiction for another. Antagonist drugs, such as naltrexone, which was approved in 2010 by the US Food and Drug Administration for opioid dependence, have gained increasing acceptance to treat prisoners, despite limited data on effectiveness. "Judges and parole officers equate methadone with 'giving in' to the addict, giving them what they want," said Charles O'Brien, MD, PhD, vice chair of Psychiatry and founding director of Penn's Center for Studies of Addiction, and senior author of the study. "But, you can give it in a controlled way so that a person can function very well and does not go into withdrawal. On the other hand, it is a...

The study was published in the  Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse . Pagano, an associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, had a major challenge in designing this study: adolescents are self-centered. But she was convinced that she would find addiction tied to a deficit in awareness of others above and beyond the ego-centric stage of adolescence. And she did. She recruited 585 adolescents from Cuyahoga County high schools and the largest residential treatment facility in Northeastern Ohio, and matched them by age, gender, race, and residence zip code. There were two adolescents who described little or no drug or alcohol use (n=390) for every one young addict (n=195). The study was designed to consider the relationship between the severity of the addiction and regard for others. She identified several behaviors to measure other-oriented awareness: driving under the influence, engaging in unprotected sex (even when the...

Researchers collected placentas from 103 Cape Coloured (mixed ancestry) pregnant women recruited at their first antenatal clinic visit in Cape Town, South Africa. Of these, 66 heavy drinkers and 37 non-drinkers were interviewed about their alcohol, cigarette smoking, and drug use at three antenatal visits. A senior pathologist, blinded to exposure status, performed comprehensive pathology examinations on each placenta using a standardized protocol. In multivariable regression models, effects of prenatal exposure were examined on placental size, structure, and presence of infections and meconium . Results show that alcohol, methamphetamine, and marijuana were associated with distinct patterns of pathology, suggesting that different mechanisms mediate their effects on placental development. Alcohol exposure was related to decreased placental weight and a smaller placenta-to-birth weight ratio. By contrast, methamphetamine was associated with larger placental weight and a larger plac...

Researchers examined BACs in 224 suicide and 166 MVC decedents, ranging from 18 to 54 years of age, found in the state of New Mexico during 2012. Comparisons between the groups were made based on differing BAC levels using 0.080 g/dl categories including low (0.001-0.079 g/dl), high (0.080-8 0.159 g/dl), and very high BAC (> 0.160 g/dl). Multivariate logistic regressions compared suicides to MVC deaths that adjusted for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Results indicate that low BAC levels may be more prevalent among suicide compared to MVC decedents, possibly reflecting the more varied role that alcohol may play in suicides compared to MVCs. However, high, and very high, BACs were predominant for both suicides and MVCs with a positive BAC. The authors note that, although there have been robust efforts to curb alcohol-related MVC mortality, there have been no parallel efforts to curb alcohol-related suicide in the U.S., which represents a major gap in alcohol -control policy. ...

This picture exhibits hookah or waterpipe. Credit score: ATS A research of light-use hookah or waterpipe people who smoke discovered proof of lung perform abnormalities, together with marked adjustments in cells lining the airways. The research, "Pulmonary Abnormalities in Younger, Gentle-use Waterpipe (Hookah) People who smoke," was revealed just lately within the American Thoracic Society's  American Journal of Respiratory and Vital Care Drugs . Few research have assessed security of smoking with a waterpipe, which delivers fruit-flavored tobacco that's positioned in a bowl and burned with charcoal. Smoke from the tobacco is bubbled by way of water, carried by way of a hose and inhaled. Waterpipe smoking is a pastime that's frequent within the Center East and is rising in recognition amongst younger folks within the U.S. Gentle-use waterpipe people who smoke (who smoked not more than three bowls/week for f...

The good news is that the prevalence of smoking during pregnancy has decreased. The bad news is that economically disadvantaged pregnant women continue to smoke at much higher rates than affluent women. For the last three decades, developing more effective smoking cessation interventions for pregnant women -- especially among vulnerable populations -- has been a public health priority. According to Stephen T. Higgins, Ph.D., director of the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, which is funded in part by a National Institutes of Health Center of Biomedical Research Excellence award, there is one treatment that continues to stand out as the most efficacious and cost-effective: Financial incentives in the form of vouchers exchangeable for retail goods, like groceries and diapers. During the U.S. cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, when virtually all other treatments were failing miserably, Higgins initiated the use of monetary incentives along with intensive counseling to c...

These disorders can have disastrous personal, professional and financial consequences if not recognized or treated, researchers report in the journal  Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics . Authors of the paper include José Biller, MD, and first author Adolfo Ramirez-Zamora , MD, who completed a residency in neurology at Loyola. The article details the latest findings for treating impulse control disorders (ICDs) in Parkinson's disease patients, including adjusting medications, deep brain stimulation and a counseling technique called cognitive behavioral therapy. One large, previous national study found that approximately 14 percent of Parkinson's disease patients experience at least one ICD. The disorders are more common in men. Men are more likely to display hypersexuality and pathological gambling, while women are more likely to exhibit compulsive eating and buying. Potentially catastrophic consequences include financial ruin, divorce and loss of employment. Patients ...