Hunger For Stimulation Driven By Dopamine In The Brain According To New Brain Research
Our need for stimulation and dopamine's action upon the brain are connected, which explains why people who constantly crave stimulation are in danger of addictive behaviour such as drug abuse and gambling. The urge to actively seek out new experiences is a personality trait that psychologists have known about for years, but up until now scientists have been unable to prove how this urge relates to hormonal activities in the brain. Now, an international research team made up of scientists from the University of Copenhagen, University of Aarhus and University of Tokyo have been able to prove for the first time that this hunger for stimulation is greater on average among people who possess more of the gratification hormone - dopamine in the brain.
Exciting New Activities May Help Prevent Relapse In Cocaine Addiction
The brain's innate interest in the new and different may help trump the power of addictive drugs, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. In controlled experiments, novelty drew cocaine-treated rats away from the place they got cocaine. Novelty could help break the vicious cycle of treatment and relapse, especially for the many addicts with novelty-craving, risk-taking personalities, the authors said. Drug-linked settings hold particular sway over recovering addicts, which may account in part for high rates of relapse. In the multi-stage study, Carmela Reichel, PhD, and Rick Bevins, PhD, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, trained rats to prefer one side of a large Plexiglas apparatus by injecting them with one of three different doses of cocaine before placing them in that side.
FDA Cautions Drug Makers About Potential Abuse
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration "this week released a draft of voluntary guidelines to assist drug makers in figuring out which compounds should be placed under the Controlled Substances Act. The law regulates the handling, record-keeping and dispensing of drugs deemed to be dangerous or addictive if misused -- in some cases imposing criminal penalties for misuse. The guidelines urge researchers to look beyond traditional indicators such as whether a compound is addictive and consider other characteristics that could lead to abuse." One example of a drug that could be more tightly restricted is the anesthetic propofol, part of the "cocktail of drugs that caused the death" of Michael Jackson (Zajac, 1/28).
Rice Responsible For Asians' Alcohol Flush Reaction
The mutation responsible for the alcohol flush reaction, an unpleasant response to alcohol that is relatively common in people of Asian descent, may have occurred following the domestication of rice. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology traced the history of the version of the gene responsible, finding that the ADH1B 47His allele appeared around the same time that rice was first cultivated in southern China. Bing Su, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, worked with a team of researchers to study 38 populations (2, 275 individuals) including Han Chinese, Tibetan and other ethnic populations across China. He said, "Our molecular dating suggests that the emergence of the ADH1B 47His allele occurred about 10, 000-7, 000 years ago.
Officials Debate Merits Of Medical Marijuana As Coping Tool In Pain Fight
As access to medical marijuana becomes more widespread, officials are debating its use as a pain-coping treatment and are easing rules for the sick to use the drug, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The U.S. Department of Justice has said it will not generally prosecute ill people under doctors' care whose use of the drug complies with state rules. New Jersey will become the 14th state to allow therapeutic use of marijuana, and the number is likely to grow. Illinois and New York, among others, are considering new laws." But there are not many clinical trials to show solid data on how successful such use of the plant is to helping patients. "A recent American Medical Association review found fewer than 20 randomized, controlled clinical trials of smoked marijuana for all possible uses.
Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings May Reduce Depression Symptoms
One of many reasons that attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings helps people with alcohol use disorders stay sober appears to be alleviation of depression. A team of researchers has found that study participants who attended AA meetings more frequently had fewer symptoms of depression - along with less drinking - than did those with less AA participation. The report will appear in the journal Addiction and has been release online. "Our study is one of the first to examine the mechanisms underlying behavioral change with AA and to find that AA attendance alleviates depression symptoms, " says study leader John F. Kelly, PhD, associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Addiction Medicine.
Should Women Receive Assisted Reproduction Treatment If They Are Obese, Smoke Or Consume Alcohol?
The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) has published a position statement on the impact of the life style factors obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption on natural and medically assisted reproduction. In a literature study the ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law summarised the negative effects of obesity, smoking and drinking on the natural reproductive potential of patients, on IVF results, pregnancy complications and outcomes and finally on the health of the future child. The paper is published online today (19 January 2010) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction (1). The group made five recommendations.
Used As Prescribed, Opioids Relieve Chronic Pain With Little Addiction Risk
Coping with chronic non-cancer pain is a way of life for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, many older adults, in particular, hesitate to take opioids a kind of narcotic for fear of addiction. However, a new review finds that taking opioids long term is associated with clinically significant pain relief in some patients with a very small risk of addition. "Not every patient has adequate pain relief, though, and side effects are intolerable for others, " said lead review author Meredith Noble. "There is a lack of consensus that opioids are safe and effective for people with chronic severe non-cancer pain, " Noble said. "We wanted to look at studies that treated people for six months or longer, given that chronic pain can go on for years.
Improving The Eating Skills And Nutritional Status Of Older People With Dementia.
The study, which was published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and funded by the National Health Research Institutes of Taiwan, tested two separate intervention methods to assess the eating patterns of dementia patients in Taiwan. Loss of memory and problems with judgement in dementia patients can cause difficulties in relation to eating and nutrition. Poor eating habits in patients have been associated with poor quality of life and can lead to pressure ulcers and infections. The study used two different step-by-step training programmes to help older people with dementia regain eating skills which are commonly lost. The methods were then compared with no intervention.
Swtich To Lower Alcohol Wine And Reduce Cancer Risk Says Research Charity
A cancer charity said on Monday that if people in the UK who regularly drank a large glass of wine a day were to switch to a lower alcohol alternative they could reduce their risk of bowel cancer by seven per cent. The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), a charity that aims to raise awareness that cancer is largely preventable and find ways to help people make choices to reduce their chances of developing the disease, calculated that this would be the likely benefit of switching from regularly consuming a large (250 ml) glass of 14 per cent wine every day to a weaker wine containing only 10 per cent alcohol. Science Programme Manager for WCRF, Dr Rachel Thompson, told the media that: "From a cancer prevention point of view it is best not to drink at all.