Addiction

Electronic cigarettes: many questions, limited research

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) are booming in popularity—but there's still only limited evidence on their potential health risks, or their advertised benefits in helping people to quit smoking, according to a research review ...

Addiction

New data shows spike in smokeless tobacco sales

The number of smokeless tobacco products sold in Massachusetts is soaring, as are the levels of nicotine packed into many of them, according to a new analysis from UMass Medical School and the Massachusetts Department of ...

Medical research

Nicotine exploits COPI to foster addiction

A study in The Journal of General Physiology helps explain how nicotine exploits the body's cellular machinery to promote addiction. The findings could lead to new therapies to help people quit smoking.

Health

The best Rx for teens addicted to vaping? No one knows

The nation's top health authorities agree: Teen vaping is an epidemic that now affects some 3.6 million underage users of Juul and other e-cigarettes. But no one seems to know the best way to help teenagers who may be addicted ...

Medical research

Scientists develop new tool to study nicotine receptors

A team of scientists has developed a new technique to better understand the effects of nicotine on the brain. In a study published in Nature Methods, the investigators described the creation of a novel light-activated nicotine ...

Neuroscience

Nicotine alters neurotransmission in habit-forming brain region

A study of rat brain slices published in JNeurosci demonstrates how nicotine interacts with cells that regulate the output of a brain region involved in habit formation. The research could inform efforts to help people quit ...

Neuroscience

The smoking gun: Fish brains and nicotine

In researching neural pathways, it helps to establish an analogous relationship between a region of the human brain and the brains of more-easily studied animal species. New work from a team led by Carnegie's Marnie Halpern ...

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