Addiction InboxAddiction InboxA review of news about addiction, alcoholism, drugs of abuse, and new scientific and medical treatment options. Website is based on the book, Addiction, The Search for a Cure, by Dirk Hanson. 
Articles
Vaccinating Against Vices
2007-02-14 00:03:00 Developing a pill or a vaccine for a specific drug addiction has long been one of the tantalizing potential rewards of addiction research. Now a company in Florida has garnered national attention, a spate of clinical trails, and a positive response from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) with a compound called NicVAX, aimed at nicotine addiction. In addition, Celtic Pharma in Bermuda is working on a similar product for cocaine addiction.The idea of vaccinating for addictions is not new. If you want the body to recognize a heroin molecule as a foe rather than a friend, one strategy is to attach heroin molecules to a foreign body--commonly a protein which the body ordinarily rejects--in order to switch on the body?s immune responses against the invader. The idea of a vaccine for cocaine, for example, is that the body?s immune system will crank out antibodies to the cocaine vaccination, preventing the user from getting high. A strong advantage to this approach, say NIDA resear... More About: Cina , Vice
Brain Injury Stops Smokers Cold
2007-02-06 03:20:00 In a research development that the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) calls nothing short of ?ming-boggling,? stroke victims lost all desire for cigarettes after suffering damage to a tiny structure in the forebrain. The stroke victims who smoked were seemingly freed from nicotine addiction by damage to the insula, a part of the brain that has not previously been a primary target of addiction research.Along with the nucleus accumbens, the amygdala, and other structures in the limbic system, certain regions of the cerebral cortex are also implicated in active addiction. Now, said NIDA?s Dr. Nora Volkow, ?Everybody?s going to be looking at the insula.?Researchers at the University of Iowa and the University of Southern California collaborated on the brain injury study, published in the January 26 issue of Science. Neuroscientist Antoine Bechara of USC had learned of a stroke patient known only as N.A heavy smoker from the age of 14, N. quit cold after a stroke at ... More About: Injury , Cold , Stops , Brain , Smokers
Snail Toxin and Nicotine
2007-02-01 04:31:00 This post courtesy of Biology-blog.com http://www.biology-blog.com/A New Tool Against Brain DiseaseUniversity of Utah scientists isolated an unusual nerve toxin in an ocean-dwelling snail, and say its ability to glom onto the brain's nicotine receptors may be useful for designing new drugs to treat a variety of psychiatric and brain diseases."We discovered a new toxin from a venomous cone snail that may enable researchers to more effectively develop medications for a wide range of nervous system disorders including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, depression, nicotine addiction and perhaps even schizophrenia," says J. Michael McIntosh.McIntosh is the same University of Utah researcher who as an incoming freshman student in 1979 discovered another "conotoxin" that was developed into Prialt, a drug injected into fluid surrounding the spinal cord to treat severe pain due to cancer, AIDS, injury, failed back surgery and certain nervous system disorders. Prialt was approved ... More About: Nicotine , Nail , Coti , Nico
New Drug For Smokers
2007-01-26 21:34:00 First there was Wellbutrin, an antidepressant which helped cut down on the cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms for many addicted smokers when it was marketed as the smoking cessation aid Zyban. In May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) okayed a second medication for the treatment of nicotine addiction. Chantix, the trade name for varenicline tartrate, works on the dopamine system to reduce withdrawal and craving symptoms, like Zyban. In randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies involving more than 3,500 smokers, Chantix outperformed both placebos and Zyban. Common side effects included nausea, headache and vomiting. Two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that about 22 per cent of smokers on Chantix were abstinent at the one-year mark, compared to 15 per cent for Zyban, and 9 per cent for placebos.Zyban and Chantix are frequently used by doctors in combination with nicotine replacement therapy, such as gum or patches. Z... More About: Smokers
Pass Me a Cold One
2007-01-21 19:57:00 It?s a common phenemonon: A cold beer on a hot day gives you more of a buzz than a cold beer on a chilly day. Uncounted numbers of northern tourists have learn this lesson at their peril after a few tequilas in Cozumel. Fruit flies get drunk faster in hot weather, too. Their drink of choice is the decaying flesh of fruit, and fly populations in higher, cooler latitudes can really hold their rotten fruit, compared to their tropical cousins.Higher temperature alters the detoxification pathways for alcohol and decreases the rigidity of cell membranes. Increased temperature also slows the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase, a primary enzyme involved in breaking down booze in the body. Alcohol is an amphiphilic molecule, meaning that cells treat it like water. So in hot weather, alcohol travels faster and lingers longer in the bodies of both humans and fruit flies.Geneticist Kristi Montooth and colleagues at Brown University used fruit flies from an Australian site averaging 80 degrees F... More About: Cold , Pass
Smokers Drink More
More articles from this author:2007-01-21 19:52:00 It?s no secret that smoking and drinking go together like salt and pepper. No comes further evidence that smoking helps drinkers hold more liquor. Put simply, ?Cigarette smoking appears to promote the consumption of alcohol,? says Wei-Jeun Chen of the Texas A&M Health Science Center.Nicotine seems to slow the movement of alcohol through the intestines, leaving more alcohol molecules backed up and metabolised before reaching the bloodstream by means of intestinal absorption. In animal studies, in which rats were given stomache injections of alcohol and nicotine, clinicians found that ?smoking? rats exhibited lower blood-alcohol levels than rats given the same amount of alcohol without the addiction of nicotine.Dr. David Ball of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, told BBC news: This is a really interesting study. I?m surprised nobody has done it before.?Chen, an associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M College of Medicine, stressed that th... More About: Drink , Smokers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
|
 |
|
 |
