http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Female rats are much more likely to binge eat than male rats, according to new research that provides some of the strongest evidence yet that biology plays a role in eating disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-biology-binge.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 01 May 2013 10:33:42 EST news286623216 (Medical Xpress)—Research from the University of Adelaide suggests that mothers who eat junk food while pregnant have already programmed their babies to be addicted to a high fat, high sugar diet by the time they are weaned. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-maternal-diet-junk-food-addiction.html Health Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:50:03 EST news286521850 Teenagers are risk-takers—they're more likely than children or adults to experiment with illicit substances, have unprotected sex, and drive recklessly. But research shows that teenagers have the knowledge and ability to make competent decisions about risk, just like adults. So what explains their risky behavior? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-teens-brains-sensitive-rewarding-feedback.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:03:22 EST news285429794 Using a miniature electronic device implanted in the brain, scientists have tapped into the internal reward system of mice, prodding neurons to release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-tiny-wireless-device-mouse-brain.html Neuroscience Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:00:02 EST news284907324 Parkinson's experts across the world have been reporting a remarkable phenomenon—many patients treated with drugs to increase the activity of dopamine in the brain as a therapy for motor symptoms such as tremors and muscle rigidity are developing new creative talents, including painting, sculpting, writing, and more. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-parkinson-treatment-trigger-creativity.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:15:06 EST news277384495 (Medical Xpress)—A bird listening to birdsong may experience some of the same emotions as a human listening to music, suggests a new study on white-throated sparrows, published in Frontiers of Evolutionary Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-birdsong-theory-music-uniquely-human.html Neuroscience Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:24:18 EST news275811850 A monkey would probably never agree that it is better to give than to receive, but they do apparently get some reward from giving to another monkey. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-decision-group-effort-brain.html Neuroscience Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:00:30 EST news275488984 (Medical Xpress)—Decreasing the level of a key brain protein led to significantly less drinking and alcohol-seeking behavior in rats and mice that had been trained to drink, according to a study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UCSF. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-scientists-alcohol-abuse-medications.html Neuroscience Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:19:02 EST news273219534 (Medical Xpress)—A similar, insidious craving plagues all addicts, no matter the substance of choice. A new study published in NeuroImage from Center for BrainHealth scientists Dr. Francesca Filbey, assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and doctoral student Samuel DeWitt has found that for binge-eaters, as with all addiction sufferers, the compulsion to overeat is rooted in the brain's reward center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-overeating-aid-obesity-metabolic-psychological.html Neuroscience Mon, 26 Nov 2012 07:50:01 EST news273136534 (Medical Xpress)—A group of scientists from the University of Copenhagen has created a model that shows how some types of ADHD medicine influence the brain's reward system. The model makes it possible to understand the effect of the medicine and perhaps in the longer term to improve the development of medicine and dose determination. The new research results have been published in the Journal of Neurophysiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-adhd-medicine-affects-brain-reward.html Neuroscience Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:31:06 EST news271683055 The brain's "reward system," those brain circuits and structures that mediate the experience and pursuit of pleasure, figured prominently in several studies. The studies shed light on adolescents' ability to control impulsivity and think through problems; reveal physical changes in the "social brain;" document connections between early home life and brain function in adolescence; and examine the impact of diet on depressive-like behavior in rodents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-brain-source-stability-instability-adolescence.html Neuroscience Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:11:25 EST news269539839 Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is associated with emotions, movement, and the brain's pleasure and reward system. In the current issue of Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, investigators provide a broad overview of the direct and indirect role of dopamine in modulating the immune system and discuss how recent research has opened up new possibilities for treating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis or even the autoimmune disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-role-dopamine-immune.html Immunology Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:30:26 EST news269177418 Everybody is talking about Internet addiction. Medically, this phenomenon has not yet been as clearly described as nicotine or alcohol dependency. But a study conducted by researchers from the University of Bonn and the Central Institute of Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim now provides indications that there are molecular-genetic connections in Internet addiction, too. The results is reported in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. The print version appears in the September issue. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-internet-addictioncauses-molecular.html Addiction Wed, 29 Aug 2012 11:10:25 EST news265457420 (Medical Xpress) -- Research from Karolinska Institutet has identified a monoamine stabiliser as a potential new drug for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Tested on rats, whose reward system is gradually blunted by long-term alcohol abuse, the compound OSU6162 balances dopamine levels in the brain. This serves to reduce the craving for more alcohol to maintain normal feelings of wellbeing while removing the pleasure from drinking. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-potential-drug-alcohol.html Addiction Fri, 27 Jul 2012 04:55:19 EST news262583710 Why does one person become anorexic and another obese? A study recently published by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher shows that reward circuits in the brain are sensitized in anorexic women and desensitized in obese women. The findings also suggest that eating behavior is related to brain dopamine pathways involved in addictions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-brain-circuitry-women-anorexia-obesity.html Neuroscience Mon, 14 May 2012 15:58:25 EST news256229894 Young adults drink more alcohol if they are in the company of peers who drink heavily. NWO researcher Helle Larsen has scientifically confirmed this link for the first time by observing young adults in a research lab converted into a cafe. She defended her PhD thesis on 19 March 2012 at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-young-adults-company-heavy-drinker.html Health Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:30:01 EST news251536533 Chronic and excessive drinking is associated with structural, physiological, and functional changes in multiple regions of the human brain, including the prefrontal cortex, the medial temporal lobe (MTL), as well as structures of the brain's reward system. This study of the ability of alcohol-dependent (AD) individuals to learn new reward-related contingencies and then transfer this knowledge to new contexts found the AD patients had transfer deficits. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-alcohol-dependent-individuals-problems-knowledge-contexts.html Addiction Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:00:03 EST news251033191 Mark Twain said, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." Many smokers would agree that it's difficult to stay away from cigarettes. A new study in Biological Psychiatry this month now suggests that low dopamine levels that occur as a result of withdrawal from smoking actually promote the relapse to smoking. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-dopamine-relapse.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:02:39 EST news247921352 An enzyme that appears to play a role in controlling the brain's response to nicotine and alcohol in mice might be a promising target for a drug that simultaneously would treat nicotine addiction and alcohol abuse in people, according to a study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-enzyme-alcoholism.html Medical research Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:00:01 EST news235043020 When glutamate and dopamine do not collaborate as they should in the brain's signal system, the kick that alcohol, sugar, or other drugs induce increases. This is shown in a new Swedish-Canadian study on mice being published today in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience. It provides a key piece of the puzzle about the mechanisms behind both substance abuse and obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-faulty-brain-craving-sugar-drugs.html Neuroscience Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:45:49 EST news233945140 New research findings to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that ghrelin, a natural gut hormone that stimulates feeding, also modulates the ability of tasty food and food-related cues to alter dopamine levels within the striatum, a critical component of the brain's reward system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-hormone-ghrelin-modulates-ability-rewarding.html Medical research Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:45:15 EST news229657485 Bulimia nervosa is a severe eating disorder associated with episodic binge eating followed by extreme behaviors to avoid weight gain such as self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or excessive exercise. It is poorly understood how brain function may be involved in bulimia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-brain-disorders-impact-function.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:40:57 EST news229614015 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