Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs News From Medical News Today
Latest Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs News From Medical News Today.
Doctors Call For Minimum Alcohol Pricing - British Medical Association
Doctors yesterday reaffirmed their support for a minimum pricing strategy for a unit of alcohol. Speaking today at the BMA's annual conference in Liverpool, Newry consultant and BMA Board of Science member Dr Peter Maguire said, "Excessive consumption of alcohol and related diseases affect all parts of society.
UK Doctors Back Calls For Minimum Price For Alcohol Doctors attending the BMA's annual conference in Liverpool have today (Thursday 2 July 2009) backed calls to introduce a minimum price for a unit of alcohol. Proposing a motion which also included calls for clearer labelling and a total ban on alcohol advertising, Dr Chandra Mohan from Barking, Havering and Brentwood, said: "People drink alcohol in different patterns and for different reasons, so a multi-directional approach is needed to address these problems.
Intervention Program Targets Siblings "Siblings are Special," a pilot prevention program targeting fifth graders and their younger siblings, recently received $1.45 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse as part of the National Institutes of Health's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The award is for two years. The program aims to enhance the quality of sibling and family relationships and thereby decrease risky behavior and use of drugs among youth as they move into middle school.
Drinkaware's Response To Public Health Commission Report About Health Message... In response to a report by the Public Health Commission which says health messages need greater clarity and consistency to help people make the right choices, Chris Sorek, Chief Executive of Drinkaware, says: "When it comes to messages about health and alcohol in particular, it's important that people have the information they need to make the decisions that are right for them.
Drug & Alcohol Action Team Uses SAS To Tackle Drugs And Save Lives By Improvi... The London Borough of Croydon's Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) is using SAS software to achieve better results in its efforts to get more people into drug treatment, reduce drug-related crime and empower the local community to resist drug misuse. SAS, the leader in
Swedish Discovery May Provide New Treatments For Alcohol Dependence Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, have discovered a new brain mechanism involved in alcohol addiction involving the stomach hormone ghrelin. When ghrelin's actions in the brain are blocked, alcohol's effects on the reward system are reduced. It is an important discovery that could lead to new therapies for addictions such as alcohol dependence.
Parkinson's Disease Alters Patient's Ability To Learn From Rewards While Trea... A new neuropsychological memory test is helping to uncover how Parkinson's disease can alter people's ability to learn about the consequences of the choices they make. The test was developed by Dr. Mark Gluck, professor of neuroscience at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, Newark, working with co-researchers at Rutgers, New York University, and in Hungary.
BMA Scotland Chairman Urges MSPs Not To Play Politics With Public Health Speaking at the Annual Conference of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr Peter Terry, chairman of the BMA Scotland urged MSPs to put party politics aside and stand together to improve health. He also underlined the need for legislation on the price of alcohol as an effective measure to tackle Scotland's drink problem. He said: "Scotland's health is improving, but too slowly.
New Figures Highlight Hidden Human Cost Of Alcohol Misuse In Scotland Commenting on new figures published yesterday which show that one in 20 deaths are attributable to alcohol, Dr Peter Terry, Chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said: "These figures highlight the true hidden human cost of alcohol misuse in Scotland. Today's figures are from 2003 and show a shocking death toll caused by a drinking culture that is out of control. We already know that alcohol consumption has increased between 2003 and 2006 so the death toll now will be far higher.
Brain Functions That Can Prevent Relapse Improve After A Year Of Methamphetam... In a study published online by the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, UC Davis researchers report that it takes at least a year for former methamphetamine users to regain impulse control. The results tell recovering substance abusers, their families and drug-treatment specialists that it can take an extended period of time for the brain functions critical to recovery to improve.
Study Could Help Target New Pancreatitis Treatments Pancreatitis is often a fatal condition, in which the pancreas digests itself and surrounding tissue. Scientists have previously found that alcohol can trigger the condition by combining with fatty acids in the pancreas, which leads to an excessive release of stored calcium ions. Once calcium ions enter cell fluid in the pancreas it activates digestive enzymes and damages the cells.
Studies Examine Cigarette Smuggling In Poor Countries, Deaths Due To Alcohol ... A new report finds that "a growing global trade in black market cigarettes is killing tens of thousands of people a year, causing massive health problems and costing governments billions of pounds," the Guardian reports.
University Of Minnesota Research Finds Teens Who Believe They'll Die Young Ar... University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues found that one in seven adolescents believe that it is highly likely that they will die before age 35, and this belief predicted that the adolescents' would engage in risky behaviors.
APhA Publishes Reference On Drugs And Substances Of Abuse The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) will publish in mid-July the second edition of Pagliaros' Comprehensive Guide to Drugs and Substances of Abuse. Written by veteran authors Louis A.
AMA: Further Support For Prevention Needed, Australia The AMA has written to Federal MPs and Senators urging them to support a number of key policy measures to reduce preventable health problems linked to excessive alcohol use, obesity and smoking. The AMA has taken this step in anticipation of the blueprint for national prevention that the National Preventative Health Taskforce will soon provide to Health Minister Nicola Roxon.
The Site For Alcohol's Action In The Brain Alcohol's inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of alcohol's impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters the way brain cells work.
Alcohol Contributes To 1 In 25 Deaths Worldwide Research led by scientists in Canada suggests that alcohol is a factor in 1 in 25 deaths worldwide, prompting calls that an international framework is needed to reduce the harm that alcohol is causing to global health.
IRIN Examines PEPFAR Funding Of IDU Programs IRIN examines a recent comment piece in the journal Lancet that argues PEPFAR can do more to prevent the spread of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Africa (IRIN, 6/24). Although PEPFAR has helped to provide "antiretroviral therapy to 2.
British Medical Association Scotland Calls For An End To The Ridiculous Prici... Doctors leaders called for an end to the ridiculous pricing of alcohol for off sales in light of findings from the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS). The survey shows that 52% of 13 year olds and 82% of 15 year olds have had at least one alcoholic drink and that shops and off-licences were the second most common source for purchasing alcohol.
Learning More About The Placebo Effect In this trial, a sample of alcohol-dependent patients received naltrexone, acamprosate or placebo for 12 weeks. While there were no differences in outcomes between treatment groups, those who believed they had been taking active medication consumed fewer alcoholic drinks and reported less alcohol dependence and cravings. That is, irrespective of actual treatment, perceived medication allocation predicted health outcomes.
America's Silent Crisis: Addiction -- Downturn Fuels Rising Drug And Alcohol ... "Addiction is on the upswing, fueled by pressures from our economic downturn," says Howard Meitiner, President and CEO of Phoenix House, the nation's largest non-profit alcohol and drug abuse treatment and prevention facility. "Eighty-eight percent of the population feels that drug abuse is at either serious or crisis levels today, reflecting the devastating impact that addiction is having on individuals, families, and communities." Says Mr.
Higher Drinking Age Linked To Less Binge Drinking...except In College Students New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found substantial reductions in binge drinking since the national drinking age was set at 21 two decades ago, with one exception: college students. The rates of binge drinking in male collegians remain unchanged, but the rates in female collegians have increased dramatically.
UBC Researchers Develop New Method To Study Gambling Addictions UBC researchers have created the world's first animal laboratory experiment to successfully model human gambling. The advance will help scientists develop and test new treatments for gambling addictions, a devastating condition that affects millions worldwide.
Histamine Affects Alcohol-related Behaviour The histamine-3 receptor is important in terms of alcohol-related behaviour, and a drug affecting that receptor may have qualities that alter alcohol-related behaviour. This appears in the study headed by Pertti Panula entitled "Tuberomamillary nucleus neurons, histamine and H3 receptor in hypothalamic regulation of alcohol addiction" which is part of the Substance Use and Addictions research programme of the Academy of Finland.
Opioid-Induced Hibernation Protects Against Stroke Using an opioid drug to induce a hibernatory state in rats reduces the damage caused by an artificial stroke. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have shown that those animals put into the chemical fugue suffered less behavioral dysfunctions after a period of cerebral artery blockage than control rats.