Addiction
19 Sep Addiction: Does Chronic Care Management Improve Outcomes?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Richard Saitz, MD MPH
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health
Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Saitz: Chronic care management in primary care did not improve health outcomes (abstinence from cocaine, opioids or heavy drinking; or any other clinical outcomes, like addiction consequences, emergency or hospital use, health-related quality of life, addiction severity) for people with alcohol or other drug dependence.
13 Sep Child Care Settings: Prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Syndromes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Svetlana Popova, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, Social and Epidemiological Research,
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology Division
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Assistant Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
Graduate Faculty Associate Member, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
CAMH, 33 Russell Street, Room # T507
Toronto Ontario, Canada M5S 2S1
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Popova: We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of internationally published and unpublished studies that reported the prevalence of FAS and/or FASD in all types of child care systems (e.g., orphanage, foster care, boarding school, adoption centre, or child welfare system).
The primary objective was to estimate a pooled (combined) prevalence for FAS and FASD in various child care systems using data from existing studies that used an Active Case Ascertainment method (when researchers/clinicians actively seek and diagnose FASD cases). The available data was analyzed by using a standard statistical technique (called meta-analysis).
This study revealed that the vast majority of existing studies report that the prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the various child-care settings in the different countries is extremely high.
Our analysis of these studies demonstrated that the pooled prevalence of FAS in child care settings (6%) was found to be approximately 9-30 times higher than the prevalence of FAS in the general population of North America, which is reported to range from 2 to 7 cases per 1,000 individuals in the USA and 1 per 1,000 in Canada. Thus, children in care represent a high-risk population for FASD.
11 Sep Methamphetamine: Research Aims to Disrupt Drug-Associated Memories
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Courtney A. Miller, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Metabolism & Aging
Department of Neuroscience
The Scripps Research Institute
Jupiter, FL 33458
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Miller: The relapse rate for drug abusers, smokers and alcoholics is high because abstinence is so difficult. A major factor is the craving that drug associations can trigger. These range from seeing the neighborhood where someone used to buy, in the case of illicit drugs, to social drinking for a smoker. We’ve found a way to disrupt these drug-associated memories without affecting other, more benign memories.
30 Aug Breast Cancer Risk: Increased by Pre- First Pregnancy Alcohol Intake
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ying Liu, MD, PhD Instructor, Division of Public Health Sciences Department of Surgery Washington University School of Medicine 660 South Euclid Ave Campus Box 8100 St. Louis, MO 63110 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Alcohol intake between menarche (first menstrual period) and first pregnancy was consistently associated with increased risks of breast cancer and proliferative benign breast disease. For every 10 gram/day alcohol intake (approximately a drink a day) during this specific time period, the risk for breast cancer increased by 11% and the risk for proliferative benign breast disease increased by 16%.14 Aug Young-Onset Dementia in Men: Alcohol Association
Posted at 00:44h
in Alcohol, Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with Peter Nordström Ph.D
Umeå University in Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: I would say that the main finding of our study is the nine independent risk factors identified for Young-Onset Dementia.
24 Jul MS Progression: Cannabis Active Ingredient Ineffective
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Professor John Zajicek
Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Clinical Trials & Health Research - Translational & Stratified Medicine (Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry)
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Zajicek: Our study investigated whether dronabinol (one of the major active ingredients of cannabis) may slow the progression of multiple sclerosis. We currently have no treatments that are effective in modifying the disease course in people with either primary or secondary MS. We did a clinical trial across the UK involving nearly 500 patients, who were randomly allocated to dronabinol or placebo, and followed them up for three years to look at progression on rates. Overall we failed to find an effect of dronabinol on disease progression, either clinically (using a variety of clinical measures) or using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There was a suggestion of an effect in people with the least disability (who didn't need a stick to help them walk), and there were no major problems with serious side effects. However, over all the population that took part in the study also progressed less than we expected, which reduced our chances of finding an effect of treatment. The study was not designed to investigate an effect on MS-related symptoms (such as pain and muscle stiffness), which have been investigated before.
15 Nov Study: Gene impedes recovery from Alcoholism
People who are alcohol-dependent and who also carry a particular variant of a gene run an increased risk of premature death. This is a recent finding from the interdisciplinary research at the Department of Psychology and the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Researchers in the longitudinal project Göteborg...
26 Oct NIH to Support Addiction Medicine Education Programs
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 Contact:NIAAA Press Office 301-443-3860 NIH grant will help translate addiction research into practice A new grant will help establish a core of post-graduate addiction medicine education programs in academic medical centers throughout the United States. The National Infrastructure for Translating Addiction Research into Clinical Practice grant, awarded last month...
22 Jul Misuse of Pain Medication May Be Pathway to High-Risk Drug Behaviors
Philadelphia (July 22, 2011)—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...