Addiction

By IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences December 5, 2023 Scientists developed a revolutionary organoid model of the dopaminergic system, providing significant insights into Parkinson’s disease and the long-lasting effects of cocaine on the brain. This model is a promising tool for advancing Parkinson’s disease treatments and understanding the enduring impact of drug addiction. Breakthrough organoid model replicates essential neural network. A new organoid model of the…

New research has found that patients taking the weight-loss and diabetes drug semaglutide had significantly reduced symptoms of alcohol use disorder. Although the study was small, larger studies are underway with the potential to lead to the use of drugs like semaglutide to treat addiction.It’s fair to say that semaglutide, sold variously as Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy, has taken the world by storm. Initially developed as a treatment to manage blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics, early testing of the drug demonstrated…

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry published a study from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, revealing that semaglutide may significantly reduce Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) symptoms. Originally approved for diabetes and weight loss, semaglutide now shows promise in the field of addiction medicine.Recent research indicates that semaglutide, a drug used for diabetes and weight loss, could effectively reduce symptoms of Alcohol Use Disorder. This finding, based on a study involving six patients, opens…

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have discovered a common brain network in substance use disorders by analyzing data from over 144 studies. This breakthrough, pointing to a unified target for neurostimulation therapies, marks a significant advancement in addiction treatment research.Researchers at Brigham examined data from 144 studies encompassing various brain imaging techniques and substances, uncovering a common brain network associated with addiction.Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, part of the…

Whenever Jelly Roll returns from touring, he falls into a depressed state. For a long time he couldn’t figure out why. The rapper turned country singer had written it off as an adrenaline dump; his body getting back to normal after long stretches of wild highs. But recently, he made a breakthrough with his therapist.“Tour is about the only time that I’ve ever felt valuable in my life,” he says, speaking over Zoom from his home in Nashville, Tennessee. This big man, who spent years of his youth in prison, “felt like I…

November 15, 20234 min readMost hospitals typically test people for drugs that drove overdoses 15 to 20 years ago. We need a national system for expanded testing to help patients get the treatment they need todayBy Eric D. Wish, Amy Billing & Erin Artigiani Hospitals link people to treatment in their time of greatest need. That includes drug overdoses, which now kill more than 100,000 people in the U.S. every year.However, the standard hospital urine drug tests often do not detect fentanyl, which today is the leading…

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ruled that the companies that own and run the most popular social networks today will have the face lawsuits blaming them for teenagers' social media addiction. According to Bloomberg Law, that means Google, which owns YouTube, Meta which runs Facebook and Instagram, ByteDance, which owns TikTok, and Snap can't get out of hundreds of federal lawsuits filed against them over the past couple of years.Rogers, who'll be overseeing the cases, disagreed with the companies' argument…

Earlier this year, Danny Brown entered rehab. “My aunt had died, and my family was asking me for the money to put on a funeral,” he says. “But I didn’t have the money, and I didn’t know how to tell them. They knew I’d had the money. But I’d just pissed through it, getting fucked up and sniffing it up. I felt like a failure.”This was not even the rapper’s lowest moment. In 2020, living in his native Detroit, he was well aware that he could overdose on drugs contaminated with fentanyl – a powerful synthetic opioid – but he…

The prevalence of myopia or near-sightedness among Indian children has been on the rise, becoming a significant concern. This condition causes nearby objects to appear clear, while distant objects become blurry. It is the most common refractive error and is particularly affecting the world's children. Experts predict that by 2050, around half of the global population could be impacted by myopia.Both genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of myopia. Typically, it starts to manifest during…

Some users of Ozempic, the popular diabetes drug that can help people eat less and lose weight, have been noticing a welcome side effect. An increasing number of people who use these injections to help control their food cravings say other cravings disappear as well—including ones for nicotine, alcohol, gambling, skin picking and other compulsive behaviors. The abundance of anecdotal reports has made researchers wonder whether Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs can serve as a basis for antiaddiction treatments. “It…