Copyright 2013 Medical News TodayLatest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/alcohol/admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin)editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors)en-us Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260577.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260577.phpRegular marijuana use is associated with favorable indices related to diabetic control, say investigators. They found that current marijuana users had significantly lower fasting insulin and were less likely to be insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Their findings are reported in the current issue of The American Journal of Medicine...Diabetes Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260648.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260648.phpRegular marijuana use is linked to advantageous indices related to diabetic control, according to a new study in The American Journal of Medicine. The research found that current marijuana users had considerably lower fasting insulin and had a lower probability of being insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with diabetes mellitus...Diabetes Thu, 16 May 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260556.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260556.phpA Brazilian investigative team, collaborating with a Simon Fraser University researcher, is citing an urgent need for targeted interventions among young crack users in cities throughout Brazil, identified as the world's biggest crack market, and further research to better address the problem...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260548.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260548.phpA program co-led by St. Michael's Hospital could be the next widely used model to treat patients who are frequent users of the health care system and have severe addictions, often complicated by homelessness and mental health problems...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260523.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260523.php Regular checkups at the doctor's generally concentrate on physical symptoms like pain or illness - now experts are recommending that annual visits to the doctor should also serve as a routine check on mental health and risky behaviors such as alcohol misuse. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force examined whether alcohol screening would be advantageous to a person's overall health...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260423.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260423.phpResearchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully tested their novel anti-cocaine vaccine in primates, bringing them closer to launching human clinical trials...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260468.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260468.php A novel anti-cocaine vaccine has been successfully tested in primates, suggesting that human clinical trials are not far off, according to new research by Weill Cornell Medical College...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Sun, 12 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260347.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260347.phpThe offspring of parents who were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to be depressed in adulthood, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers...Depression Thu, 09 May 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260241.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260241.phpVertebrates are predisposed to act to gain rewards, and to lay low to avoid punishment. Try to teach chickens to back away from food in order to obtain it, and you'll fail, as researchers did in 1986. But (some) humans are better thinkers than chickens...Neurology / Neuroscience Thu, 09 May 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260252.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260252.phpTo improve patient safety, hospitals should randomly test physicians for drug and alcohol use in much the same way other major industries in the United States do to protect their customers. The recommendation comes from two Johns Hopkins physicians and patient safety experts in a commentary published online recently in The Journal of the American Medical Association...Primary Care / General Practice Wed, 08 May 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260172.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260172.phpScientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have reported successful preclinical tests of a new vaccine against heroin. The vaccine targets heroin and its psychoactive breakdown products in the bloodstream, preventing them from reaching the brain...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Tue, 07 May 2013 02:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260134.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260134.phpTeen smokers who rationalize their use of cigarettes by saying, "At least, I'm not doing drugs," may not always be able to use that line. New research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC, supports the theory that cigarettes are a gateway drug to marijuana...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Mon, 06 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260000.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/260000.phpA growing number of college students are abusing the ADHD medication Adderall to give them an academic edge, and they're tweeting about it. Thanks to Twitter, tracking roughly when and where Adderall use happens is now possible. So a group of BYU health science and computer science researchers did just that...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Sat, 04 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259984.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259984.phpLong after a hangover, a night of bad decisions might take a bigger toll on the body than previously understood. Described in the current issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, a study at the University of Missouri has revealed a unique connection between binge drinking and the risk for developing alcoholic liver disease and a variety of other health problems...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259908.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259908.phpA UCLA-led study of adolescents receiving treatment for methamphetamine dependence has found that girls are more likely to continue using the drug during treatment than boys, suggesting that new approaches are needed for treating meth abuse among teen girls...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Thu, 02 May 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259895.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259895.phpResearchers from the University of California, San Diego Department of Pediatrics and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, a research affiliate of UC San Diego School of Medicine, have found a link between multivitamin use and alcohol consumption before pregnancy, uncovering a need for education about the importance of vitamin supplementation, particularly among women who drink ...Nutrition / Diet Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259860.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259860.phpThe first article in a landmark series to help health care workers and providers, donors, and decision makers understand the importance of including mental health care in global health programs is being published in this week's PLOS Medicine...Mental Health Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259928.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259928.phpJAMA Psychiatry Study Highlights Rosa M. Crum, M.D., M.H.S., of the Johns Hopkins Health Institutions, Baltimore, Md., and colleagues examined whether self-medicating mood symptoms is associated with the increased probability of the onset and persistence of alcohol dependence. The study included a nationally representative sample of the U.S...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259783.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259783.phpResearch announced last week at the International Liver CongressTM 2013 has revealed the deadly impact that alcohol and body weight have on liver disease. Women should forgo the wine and doughnuts after a new study found the harmful combination of high alcohol intake and high body mass index (BMI) causes an increased risk of chronic liver disease...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259719.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259719.phpThanks to a rare bacteria that grows only on rocks in the Swiss Alps, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the Pasteur Institute in France have been the first to identify how alcohol might affect key brain proteins. It's a major step on the road to eventually developing drugs that could disrupt the interaction between alcohol and the brain...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259707.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259707.phpA group of researchers from Sweden have provided further evidence that illegal drugs can be detected in the breath, opening up the possibility of a roadside breathalyzer test to detect substances such as cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259658.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259658.phpEarly, substantive dialogue between parents and their grade-school age children about the ills of tobacco and alcohol use can be more powerful in shaping teen behavior than advertising, marketing or peer pressure, a University of Texas at Arlington marketing researcher has shown...Smoking / Quit Smoking Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259754.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259754.phpNearly one in every four American teenagers drives under the influence, according to a study (survey) published by Liberty Mutual and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). The authors added that many teens who were surveyed believe driving under the influence does not affect their safety...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259652.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259652.php Congress delegates heard this week about a study that showed the deadly effect that high alcohol intake and excess body weight can have on women's chances of developing and dying from chronic liver disease. The researchers analyzed data from over 107,000 women across the United Kingdom to find out how weight and alcohol consumption affect the liver...Liver Disease / Hepatitis Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:00:00 PDThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259580.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/259580.phpIn their article "Over 30 million psychedelic users in the United States", Teri S Krebs and Pal-Orjan Johansen from the Department of Neuroscience at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, use data from a randomly-selected sample of over 57,000 individuals surveyed for the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), to estimate lifetime prevalence of psychedelic use...Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs