Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. Some of the most commonly abused drugs include alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methaqualone, and opium alkaloids.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may benefit HIV infected women – Women with HIV may benefit from a vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), despite having already been exposed to HPV, a study finds. Although many may have been exposed to less serious forms of HPV, more than 45 percent of sexually active young women who have acquired HIV appear never to have been exposed to the most common high-risk forms of HPV.
Nicotine primes brain for cocaine use: Molecular basis of gateway sequence of drug use – Cigarettes and alcohol serve as gateway drugs, which people use before progressing to the use of marijuana and then to cocaine and other illicit substances; this progression is called the “gateway sequence” of drug use.
Treating HIV-infected people with antiretrovirals significantly reduces transmission to partners — Findings result from NIH-funded international study – Men and women infected with HIV reduced the risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners by taking oral antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems were relatively healthy, according to findings from a large-scale clinical study.
FDA Acts to Reduce Harm from Opioid Drugs – The White House on Tuesday unveiled a multi-agency plan aimed at reducing the “epidemic” of prescription drug abuse in the U.S.-including an FDA-backed education program that zeros-in on reducing the misuse and misprescribing of opioids.
Fellowships for outstanding research in drug use and HIV are presented by the International AIDS Society and the National Institute on Drug Abuse at AIDS 2010 – The International AIDS Society (IAS) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) today announced the recipients of their second annual joint research fellowships. Recipients of the prestigious awards will receive US$75,000 each to advance the scientific understanding of the linkage between illicit drug use and HIV, while fostering multinational research.
Deficits in brain’s reward system observed in ADHD patients — Low levels of dopamine markers may underlie symptoms; implications for treatment. – The patients suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have lower-than-normal levels of certain proteins essential for experiencing reward and motivation, revealed by researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Prenatal meth exposure linked to abnormal brain development. – A first of its kind study examining the effects of methamphetamine use during pregnancy has found the drug appears to cause abnormal brain development in children.
Marijuana use linked to increased risk of testicular cancer. Risk appears to be elevated particularly among frequent and/or long-term users of marijuana. – Frequent and/or long-term marijuana use may significantly increase a man’s risk of developing the most aggressive type of testicular cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
UK’s DrugScope responds to the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) figures on young people in treatment for substance misuse. – DrugScope, the national membership organisation for the drug sector, has welcomed the publication of new figures from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) on the numbers of young people who have received specialist support for drug and alcohol misuse.
Erasing drug-associated memories to treat drug addiction is a new approach that has great potential. – Erasing drug-associated memories may prevent recovering drug abusers from relapsing, researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered.
Neuroscience researchers at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore have shown for the first time what happens to the visual perceptions of healthy but sleep-deprived volunteers who fight to stay awake, like people who try to drive through the night. – Researchers have found that a sleep-deprived brain can normally process simple visuals, like flashing checkerboards. But the ?higher visual areas’ ? those that are responsible for making sense of what we see ? didn’t function well.
Expansion of a monocyte subset in HIV patients could serve as a biomarker for progression of the disease. – An increase in the CD163+/CD16+ monocyte subset could be a biomarker for the progression of HIV disease, according to researchers at Temple University, reported in the March issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.
