Research
Frequent Chest Pain Linked to Anxiety and Depression
A new study shows that heart patients with depression and anxiety are more likely to suffer chest pain than patients without those symptoms. The findings, published in the June 30 edition of Circulation, also suggest that angina associated with blocked arteries may also have a psychosocial component.
Learn more about Frequent Chest Pain Linked to Anxiety and Depression
Food Found to Affect the Brain’s Reward System
New research shows that exposing rats to a context associated with eating chocolate activates a part of the brain’s reward system known as the orexin system; this helps explain why eating can be triggered by environmental cues even in the absence of hunger. The findings could help scientists develop new drug treatments for overeating.
As the rate of obesity steadily rises in the United States and abroad, researchers are trying to find out more about how palatable foods affect the brain. It seems that especially tasty foods elicit brain responses similar to those elicited by drugs such as cocaine and nicotine, pointing to a general involvement in the brain’s “reward” system.
Learn more about Food Found to Affect the Brain’s Reward System
Young Men Living with Parents More Likely to be Violent and Have Alcohol Problems
A new study by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London finds that young men who stay at home with their parents tend to be more violent than those who live independently. Researchers also found that men still living at home in their early twenties have fewer responsibilities and more disposable income to spend on alcohol.
Science Daily reports that this group makes up only four percent of the UK’s male population but that it is responsible for 16 percent of all violent injuries in the last five years. In the US and UK, delaying social independence and remaining in the parental home have become more common over the past 40 years.
Learn more about Young Men Living with Parents More Likely to be Violent and Have Alcohol Problems
Teen Drinking Linked to Behavioral Problems
Teens who drink heavily are more likely than their peers to have behavioral and attention problems and suffer from anxiety and depression, new research finds.
Science Daily reports that a team led by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology based their research on a study of nearly 9,000 Norwegian teenagers aged 13-19 years. Eighty percent of the teens said they had tried alcohol, and 29 percent said they had been drunk more than ten times in their lives.
Learn more about Teen Drinking Linked to Behavioral Problems
Drug Patterns Uncovered through Wastewater
A team of researchers has mapped patterns of illicit drug use across the state of Oregon by sampling municipal wastewater before it is treated. According to a Science Daily article, their findings provide a one-day snapshot of drug excretion that can be used to better understand patterns of drug use in multiple municipalities over time.
Drunk Driving Down; Drugged Driving Up
A government survey found that the number of drunk-driving cases has fallen sharply over the last 30 years due to tougher laws and a shift in societal views on alcohol. However, a separate survey showed that for the first time, 16.3 percent of nighttime weekend drivers tested positive for drugs—mainly marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
Studies Examine Importance of Histamine in Alcohol Use
The behavior that is exhibited as a result of alcohol consumption can often be embarrassing or even destructive. The histamine-3 receptor plays an important role in alcohol-related behavior and a drug that can impact this receptor could offer hope.
Science Daily recently reported on a study headed by Pertti Panula that examines whether or not these drugs can make a difference in the effects of alcohol consumption. This study was part of the Substance Use and Addictions research program of the Academy of Finland.
“Whether these histamine-3 receptor drugs help in the treatment of human alcoholism will probably be clear when the results of the currently ongoing clinical trials become public. The drugs are currently being tested for the treatment of conditions such as observation disorders, sleep disorders and narcolepsy,” said Professor Panula, in the Science Daily.
Learn more about Studies Examine Importance of Histamine in Alcohol Use
Research Suggests that Vulnerability Genes Can Lead to Positive Outcomes as Much as Negative Outcomes
There is some truth to the saying that your environment makes you who you are. More specifically, some individuals carry ‘vulnerability genes’ that indicate that they are genetically vulnerable individuals that are more likely to become impulsive and hyperactive if their mothers smoked while pregnant; to exhibit anti-social behaviors if abused as a child; and depressed if exposed to many negative life events.
A recent piece in Science Daily examines new gene by environment (GXE) research published in Molecular Psychiatry that suggests that those who carry these genes are also more likely to benefit from positive environments. This characteristic makes these individuals more malleable or plastic, instead of just vulnerable.
“Our analysis of many published findings suggests that one potential solution to the nature-nurture controversy is to appreciate the role played by environmental experience and the role played by heredity in shaping who we are may actually differ across people,” said Professor Jay Belsky, Director of the Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues at Birkbeck, University of London Belsky.
Researchers Identify Potential Alternative Drug Treatment
For those who have never used drugs or experienced a dependence upon them, it is hard to understand the draw. Yet, when someone is dependent upon drugs or alcohol, the pleasure center within the brain is hijacked, which disrupts the normal functioning of its reward circuitry.
Learn more about Researchers Identify Potential Alternative Drug Treatment
All in Our Heads: How the Brain Creates Addiction
By Meghan O’Dell
It wasn’t very long ago that most people considered addiction to be a moral failing rather than a treatable disease-it was largely thought that people who succumbed to drugs and alcohol were simply making poor decisions. Even when the American Medical Association announced in 1950 that alcoholism is a disease, people continued to hold onto the belief that addiction was voluntary. But now scientists have been able to pinpoint exactly what happens in the brain of an addict, proving that addiction is a disease and that the brain can make it very difficult for people to resist the effects of drugs and alcohol.
Learn more about All in Our Heads: How the Brain Creates Addiction
Connect with an Elements Recovery Adviser
newsletter
