http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Why do we overeat and consume more calories than we need? Is food our way of rewarding ourselves, and can stress make us want to eat more? These are just some of the questions a European food study aims to answer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-brain-behaviour.html Neuroscience Mon, 06 May 2013 05:53:53 EST news287038420 The UK government's decision to promote abstinence for drug users "is about saving money not science" argues a senior doctor in the BMJ today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-decision-abstinence-drug-users-money.html Medications Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:30:02 EST news283105184 Studying what makes us want to eat, could help devise approaches to prevent obesity, which is becoming widespread in Europe http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-brain-mechanisms-food-reward.html Neuroscience Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:18:31 EST news282223105 Cocaine is one of the most addictive drugs of abuse. Few effective treatments are available to help control cravings and withdrawal symptoms among individuals undergoing therapy to overcome cocaine abuse. Promising results from a study of qigong therapy are published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-qigong-cocaine-cravings-early-addiction.html Addiction Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:55:13 EST news281012107 Hunger, thirst, stress and drugs can create a change in the brain that transforms a repulsive feeling into a strong positive "wanting," a new University of Michigan study indicates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-repulsive-desires.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:45:37 EST news279391526 It doesn't take a rocket scientist to quickly grasp what a University of Mississippi professor's research could mean to the millions of people addicted to hardcore narcotics such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and morphine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-addicts.html Addiction Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:35:06 EST news278577297 Scientists have shown how the common fruit fly Drosophila, which possess similar electrophysiological and pharmacological properties as humans, could now be used to screen and develop new therapies for alcohol-related behavioural disorders and some genetic diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-common-fruit-scientists-alcohol-related-disorders.html Medical research Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:13:43 EST news275228014 New research helps explain why some teenagers are more prone to drinking alcohol than others. The study, led by King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides the most detailed understanding yet of the brain processes involved in teenage alcohol abuse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-teenagers-prone-binge.html Genetics Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:00:22 EST news273755226 Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have performed successful tests of an experimental methamphetamine vaccine on rats. Vaccinated animals that received the drug were largely protected from typical signs of meth intoxication. If the vaccine proves effective in humans too, it could become the first specific treatment for meth addiction, which is estimated to affect 25 million people worldwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-meth-vaccine-results-early.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:25:34 EST news270980723 A Florida State University researcher is on a mission to explore the gene-controlling effects of addictive drugs in pursuit of new HIV treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-addictive-properties-drug-abuse-key.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:57:50 EST news267447465 A centralized prescription network providing real-time information to pharmacists in British Columbia, Canada, resulted in dramatic reductions in inappropriate prescriptions for opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines, widely used and potentially addictive drugs. The findings are reported in a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pharmanet-inappropriate-prescriptions-potentially-addictive.html Medications Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:00:10 EST news265963481 Scientists are now one step closer to developing anti-addiction medications, thanks to new research that provides a better understanding of the properties of the only member of the opioid receptor family whose activation counteracts the rewarding effects of addictive drugs. The study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Institute of Mental Health, all components of the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-clues-anti-addiction-medications.html Addiction Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:43:56 EST news251621025 In preclinical studies, researchers at SRI International and Astraea Therapeutics have recently evaluated the role of a new drug receptor target that shows promise for the treatment of drug addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-collaborative-preclinical-efficacy-drug-addiction.html Addiction Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:50:15 EST news250937399 Researchers studying mice are getting closer to understanding how stress affects mood and motivation for drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-therapeutic-depression-addiction.html Addiction Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:34:55 EST news232201838 A team of Duke University Medical Center and Australian scientists has found that addictive drugs may have hijacked the same nerve cells and connections in the brain that serve a powerful, ancient instinct: the appetite for salt. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-classic-instinct-salt-appetite.html Medical research Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:00:05 EST news229614662 Researchers at the University of Cambridge have identified abnormal brain structures in the frontal lobe of cocaine users' brains which are linked to their compulsive cocaine-using behaviour. Their findings were published today, 21 June, in the journal Brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-abnormal-brain-linked-chronic-cocaine.html Neuroscience Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:50:20 EST news227846999