http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Mental distractions make pain easier to take, and those pain-relieving effects aren't just in your head, according to a report published online on May 17 in Current Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-pain-relief-distraction-.html Medical research Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:07 EST news256474692 (HealthDay) -- Alcohol or sedative use during chronic opioid therapy (COT) for non-cancer pain puts patients at risk for adverse events such as respiratory depression or sedation, and the risk of concurrent use of central nervous system (CNS) depressants is not limited to patients with a history of substance abuse, according to a study published in the March issue of The Journal of Pain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-alcohol-opioids-common-abuse.html Addiction Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:25:11 EST news253815902 A University of Colorado Boulder-led research team has discovered that two protein receptors in the central nervous system team up to respond to morphine and cause unwanted neuroinflammation, a finding with implications for improving the efficacy of the widely used painkiller while decreasing its abuse potential. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-morphine-side-effects.html Medical research Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:00:12 EST news252585704 (HealthDay) -- Genotype at the A118G polymorphism of the µ-opioid receptor gene is associated with breast cancer-specific mortality, according to a study published in the April issue of Anesthesiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-polymorphism-opioid-gene-affects-breast.html Cancer Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:50:02 EST news252300593 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 At the molecular level, drugs like salvinorin A (the active ingredient of the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum) work by activating specific proteins, known as receptors, in the brain and body. Salvinorin A, the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen, is unusual in that it interacts with only one receptor in the human brain — the kappa opioid receptor (KOR). Scientists know of four distinct types of opioid receptors, but until now the structure of the 'salvia receptor', and the details about how salvinorin A and other drugs interact with it, was a mystery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-salvia-receptor-reveals-salvinorin-interacts.html Medical research Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:00:02 EST news251556219 Opioid drugs used to relieve pain in postoperative and chronic cancer patients may stimulate the growth and spread of tumors, according to two studies and a commentary in the 2012 annual Journal Symposium issue of Anesthesiology, the academic journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-evidence-mounts-link-opioids-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:00:01 EST news251481737 There is better evidence for the effectiveness of drug-based approaches for relieving labour pains than non-drug approaches. These are the findings of an all-encompassing publishing in The Cochrane Library, which draws together results from a number of previous reviews on the subject. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-pain-relief-poor-evidence-non-drug.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:00:03 EST news250876288 Prescribing opioids for pain to older patients within seven days of short-stay surgery appears to be associated with long-term analgesic use compared to those patients who did not receive prescriptions for analgesics after surgery, according to a study published in the March 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-opioids-pain-short-stay-surgery-long-term.html Medications Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:08 EST news250779581 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with mental health diagnoses, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder, are more likely to receive prescription opioid medications for pain-related conditions, have higher-risk opioid use patterns and increased adverse clinical outcomes associated with opioid use than veterans with no mental health diagnoses, according to a study in the March 7 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-war-veterans-mental-health-prescription.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:00:05 EST news250268714 (Medical Xpress) -- Better help with battling drug addiction could be at hand as a result of research underway at Victoria University of Wellington. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-combat-drug-addiction.html Medical research Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:20:01 EST news245642706 (Medical Xpress) -- Drinking alcohol leads to the release of endorphins in areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward, according to a study led by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-clue-alcohol-addicting-brain-endorphins.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:01 EST news245509528 (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is warning patients about a potential mix-up between powerful prescription pain drugs and common over-the-counter medications like Excedrin and Gas-X made at a Novartis manufacturing plant. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-fda-pill-mix-up-endo-painkillers.html Medications Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:16:19 EST news245330170 Across U.S. outpatient clinics between 1997 and 2008, opioid prescriptions for chronic abdominal pain more than doubled, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-opioid-painkillers-abdominal-pain.html Medications Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:41:23 EST news241796476 Patients who are dependent on opioids (narcotic pain relievers) for pain management before knee replacement surgery have much more difficulty recovering, a study recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) has found. These patients tend to have longer hospital stays, more post-surgical pain, a higher rate of complications, and are more likely to need additional procedures, than patients who are not opioid-dependent. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-pain-meds.html Other Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:10:53 EST news240235049 In Britain, the popular U.S. painkiller OxyContin is considered similar to morphine and used sparingly. Vicodin isn't even licensed. And at most shops, remedies like ibuprofen are sold only in 16-pill packs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-painkillers-british.html Medications Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:58:31 EST news240166683 In the first worldwide study of its kind, scientists from Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) found evidence that heavy methamphetamine users might have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. This finding was based on a large study comparing the risk among methamphetamine users not only to a group that did not use drugs, but also to heavy users of other drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-schizophrenia-heavy-methamphetamine-users.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:59:10 EST news239947119 (Medical Xpress) -- New UCLA psychology research indicates that Asians who are struggling with alcoholism may benefit especially from naltrexone, one of three medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of alcoholism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-asians-alcoholism-benefit.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:32:53 EST news236323927 Opioids -- a class of medicines commonly given for pain -- were associated with a higher risk of pneumonia in a study of 3,061 adults, aged 65 to 94, e-published in advance of publication in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study from researchers at Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington (UW) also found that benzodiazepines, which are drugs generally given for insomnia and anxiety, did not affect pneumonia risk. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-opioids-linked-higher-pneumonia-older.html Medications Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:30:38 EST news235927705 Doctors have been prescribing codeine for postpartum pain management for many years, and, until recently, it was considered safe to breastfeed while taking the opioid. But the death of an infant exposed to codeine through breast milk has many health care providers questioning the safety of the drug when used by breastfeeding mothers. Because of the potential risks, some doctors have begun the practice of prescribing oxycodone as an alternative to codeine; however, a new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics finds that oxycodone is no safer for breastfed infants than codeine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-mother-postpartum-oxycodone-safer-breastfed.html Health Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:13:01 EST news234529962 Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered the mechanism by which a low dose of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (LDN), an agent used clinically (off-label) to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, exerts a profound inhibitory effect on cell proliferation. It has been postulated that opioid receptor blockade by LDN provokes a compensatory elevation in endogenous opioids and opioid receptors that can function after LDN is no longer available. Using a novel tissue culture model of LDN action, the mechanism of LDN has been found to target the opioid growth factor (OGF, [Met5]-enkephalin) and OGF receptor (OGFr) axis. This discovery, reported in the September 2011 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, provides new insights into the molecular pathway utilized by an increasingly important clinically prescribed agent that serves as a basic biological regulator of cell proliferative events related to pathobiological states such as cancer and autoimmune diseases http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-low-dose-naltrexone-ldn-body.html Medical research Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:25:53 EST news234195935 Women and men experience pain, particularly chronic pain, very differently. The ability of some opioids to relieve pain also differs between women and men. While it has been recognized since the mid-nineties that some narcotic analgesics are more effective in women than men, the reason for this difference was largely unknown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-pain-women.html Neuroscience Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:37:04 EST news232892651 A new study by researchers at Drexel University's School of Public Health suggests that abuse of prescription painkillers may be an important gateway to the use of injected drugs such as heroin, among people with a history of using both types of drugs. The study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, explores factors surrounding young injection drug users' initiation into the misuse of opioid drugs. Common factors identified in this group included a family history of drug misuse and receiving prescriptions for opioid drugs in the past. The results support a need for efforts to prevent misuse of prescription drugs, particularly during adolescence. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-drexel-misuse-pain-medication-pathway.html Medications Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:33:59 EST news230553223 Ordinary painkillers such as paracetamol may work better than the risky antipyschotic drugs often prescribed to calm agitation in people with dementia, according to a study released Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-dementia-common-painkillers.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:17:21 EST news230221027 Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that a low dose of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (LDN) has an extraordinarily potent antitumor effect on human ovarian cancer in tissue culture and xenografts established in nude mice. When LDN is combined with chemotherapy, there is an additive inhibitory action on tumorigenesis. This discovery, reported in the July 2011 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, provides new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of ovarian neoplasia, the 4th leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women in the United States. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-dose-naltrexone-ldn-harnessing-body.html Cancer Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:42:02 EST news229700508 The Obama administration turned a bright spotlight on prescription painkiller abuse in April when the Office of National Drug Control Policy released a national action plan and a statement from Vice President Joe Biden. With a cover article in the July edition of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), dentists focus that spotlight on themselves both as major sources of opioid drugs and as professionals with largely untapped power to recognize and reduce abuse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-dentists-role-painkiller-abuse.html Medications Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:33:02 EST news228735150 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study by Yale School of Medicine reveals that nearly one third of those who use opioids for non-medical reasons obtain these drugs directly from physicians, but the majority get them from friends or family members. The study, which used data from the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health, appears online in the Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-friends-family-enable-opioid-abusers.html Health Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:50:48 EST news227335745 Naltrexone reduced inflammation in Crohn's patients in a research study at Penn State College of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-naltrexone-inflammation-crohn-patients.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 19 May 2011 09:56:40 EST news225017754 Nearly everyone who has tried to quit smoking says it's incredibly difficult, and the struggle is due in part to genetic factors. Now, a new study from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on how one specific genetic risk for smoking relapse may work: Some of the difficulties may be due to how many receptors, called "mu opioid" receptors, a smoker has in his or her brain. The results, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to the development of new treatments that target these receptors and help smokers increase their chances of success when they try to quit. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-smokers-genetic-background-impacts-brain.html Medical research Mon, 16 May 2011 18:27:01 EST news224789195