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Addiction Research
Hookahs and cardiovascular disease risk – American Heart Association
There is growing evidence that water pipe – or hookah – tobacco smoking affects heart rate, blood pressure regulation, baroreflex sensitivity, tissue oxygenation and...
Medical marijuana may bring relief to older people with chronic conditions
Medical marijuana may bring relief to older people who have symptoms like pain, sleep disorders or anxiety due to chronic conditions including amyotrophic lateral...
Are long‐term vapers interested in vaping cessation support?
Most long‐term vapers in a 2017 European online survey had no intention of stopping – but a quarter to half of those who did intend...
JUUL raises nicotine levels in e-cigarettes, sparking ‘arms race’
Popular US e-cigarette manufacturer Juul is one of the fastest growing vaping companies around. It has been targeting youngsters and adolescents with flavoured e-cigarettes. The company has...
Vicious cycle of pain and substance abuse
Pain and substance use interact in a vicious cycle that can ultimately worsen and maintain both chronic pain and addiction, according to a research...
Women's hormones play role in drug addiction, higher relapse rates
Women’s hormonal cycles may not only make them more prone to drug addiction but also more affected by triggers that lead to relapse, a...
New data suggests nicotine while pregnant alters genes
The Akay Lab biomedical research team at the University of Houston reveals in the journal Nature Scientific Reports that a possible cure for addiction may be found by...
Marijuana edibles a major risk to patients with cardiovascular disease
As marijuana legalization sweeps North America, use of the substance has been on the rise, and the public's attitude is shifting. Many believe that...
Teens who use e-cigarettes more apt to start smoking, study says
Two new studies of e-cigarettes may bolster US government efforts to stem what it calls a growing epidemic of youth vaping, writes Anna Edney for Bloomberg....
Study shows e-cigarettes boost likelihood of stroke and heart attack
E-cigarettes don’t produce the same mix of toxic chemicals as conventional cigarettes, but US research shows that the battery-powered devices are far from harmless...
New heated tobacco device causes same damage to lung cells as e-cigs, smoking
A study that directly compares new heated tobacco devices with vaping and cigarettes shows that all three are toxic to human lung cells, reports...
Cigarette smoking and peripheral artery disease in African-Americans
African Americans who smoke cigarettes are more likely than those who don't smoke to develop peripheral artery disease, according to research in the Journal of...
Reducing alcohol could help people to quit smoking, research finds
People wanting to quit smoking might want to consider cutting back on their drinking, too. According to Oregon State University research, heavy drinkers who are...
Convincing Chinese smokers to kick the habit – By text
Among smokers receiving a 12-week-long mobile phone-based intervention encouraging them to quit, up to 6.5% stopped smoking by the end of the study, according...
Disconnect between the brain's dopamine system and cocaine addiction
Researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio have revealed significant insight into cocaine addiction, a phenomenon which has grown significantly in the...
Drug combo shows promise in treatment of depression and addiction
The combination of naltrexone and ketamine can help treat both symptoms of addiction and depression, a preliminary study by Yale University researchers suggests.
Substance abuse...
Drugs of abuse: Identifying the addiction circuit
What happens in the brain of a compulsive drug user? What is the difference in brain function between an addict and a person who...
Internet-based interventions can help reduce problem drinking
Internet-based interventions may be effective in curbing various patterns of adult problem drinking in both community and health care settings, according to an article...
Trying to quit smoking? Research suggests higher levels of nicotine may help
Allowing smokers to determine their nicotine intake while they are trying to quit is likely to help them kick the habit, according to an...
Dental painkillers may put young people at risk of opioid addiction
Dentists who prescribe opioid painkillers to teenagers and young adults after pulling their wisdom teeth may be putting their patients at risk of addiction,...
Excessive social media use is comparable to drug addiction
Bad decision-making is a trait often associated with drug addicts and pathological gamblers, but what about people who excessively use social media? Michigan State...
E-cigarettes – Friend or Foe?
The health effects of ‘vaping’, or inhaling the aerosol generated by e-cigarettes, are largely unknown, writes Jenna Flogeras for Advanced Science News. Researchers from...
Smoke-free policies associated with lower blood pressure
Non-smokers who had access to smoke-free restaurants, bars and workplaces had lower systolic blood pressure readings than those who lived in areas without smoke-free...
Vapourised pot means a higher high
A smokeless method of vapourising and then inhaling pot packs a much more powerful punch than simply smoking weed, according to research published in...
Study finds that 'ecstasy' could help with PTSD treatment
The recreational drug known as ecstasy or molly may help people regain trust in others after being betrayed, suggests results of a controlled laboratory...
Sex addiction may affect 10% of men, survey finds
Is sex addiction real? Researchers say it may be, or at least something close to it, and might be more common than anyone thought, writes...
Online gaming addiction in men affects brain's impulse control
Researchers using functional MRI (fMRI) have found differences in the brains of men and women who are addicted to online gaming, according to a...
Industry social responsibility schemes fail to reduce harmful alcohol use
Alcohol industry social responsibility schemes strengthen their own commercial interests while failing to reduce harmful alcohol use, according to a worldwide study led by...
Hookah smoking impairs blood vessel function
Smoking hookah tobacco acutely impairs the ability of blood vessels to function, according to preliminary research presented in Chicago at last month's American Heart Association’s...
Researchers probe secrets of key compound in memory and addiction
A team led by researchers at Imperial College London is leading an international effort to uncover the role of one of the brain’s key chemical...
How LSD changes perception
LSD changes the communication patterns between regions of the brain, a study by researchers of the University of Zurich and Yale University shows. The study also...
One month of cannabis abstinence improves memory in adolescents, young adults
A US study has found that one month of abstaining from cannabis use resulted in measurable improvement in memory functions important for learning among adolescents and...
Cannabis addiction linked to altered connectivity in the brain’s striatum
New neuroimaging research published in Human Brain Mapping suggests that cannabis use disorder is associated with specific changes in the functional connectivity of the...
Dopamine drives early addiction to heroin – Study
Scientists in Europe and the United States have made a major advance in untangling the brain circuits that lead to the powerful addictive effects...
Juul e-cigarettes pose addiction risk for young users – Study
Teens and young adults who use Juul brand e-cigarettes are failing to recognise the product's addictive potential, despite using it more often than their...
Quit rates low among cigarette smokers with mental health problems
A study by scientists at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and City University of New York found that people with mental health problems quit...
People with internet addiction react the worst when WiFi fails
Do you get frustrated and angry when your WiFi connection stops working? When digital technology stops working, people with a fear of missing out,...
Traces of an ancient virus in our genes may play a role in addiction
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our ancestors were infected by a retrovirus. Now, international researchers think that that virus' ancient genetic traces still...
Cure for cocaine addiction in reach, say scientists
A radical gene therapy for drug addiction has been shown to dampen down cravings for cocaine and protect against overdoses of the substance that...
Compound found in gut could help reduce cocaine addiction
US scientists believe they may be on to a possible cure for cocaine addiction with the help of bile acids, the gut compounds used for...