Pathological rage can be blocked in mice by shutting down a specific receptor in the brain, report University of Southern California researchers who believe the finding could lead to new treatments for aggression and hostile overreactions to stress. The study, appearing in the Journal of Neuroscience, explains how the researchers identified a critical neurological factor […]
Tag Archives | drug
Drugs of addiction hijack our love of salt
Scientists at Duke University Medical Center and the University of Melbourne have found that addictive drugs appear to hijack the same nerve cells and connections in the brain that serve a powerful, ancient instinct: our appetite for salt. In the new study, appearing in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research team demonstrate […]
Health Officials Get Wee-lly Smart About Drug Usage
Attendees at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society were told that public health officials intend to get more accurate estimates on illegal drug use by analyzing drug residues and metabolites in sewage treatment plants. Estimates of illicit drug abuse in the past were based largely on surveys in which children and adults were […]
Medicos Mull Advantageous Drug-Food Interactions
Exploiting interactions between food and drugs could dramatically lower the rising costs associated with anticancer drugs and other medications, say two oncologists in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Such interactions are usually considered to be detrimental, but University of Chicago oncologists Mark Ratain and Ezra Cohen pooh-pooh that idea, instead saying that recent studies show […]
Wastewater Reveals A Cocaine Surprise
Law officials and drug policymakers may have to reconsider the methods they use to estimate the number of illegal drug users following some surprising research results from Italy. The levels of cocaine residue in flowing water from the Po valley area suggest that many more people take cocaine than official national estimates had previously suggested. […]