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A pain reliever that alters perceptions of risk

Original post: Newswise - Drug and Drug Abuse A pain reliever that alters perceptions of risk

While acetaminophen is helping you deal with your headache, it may also be making you more willing to take risks, a new study suggests. People who took acetaminophen rated activities like “bungee jumping off a tall bridge” as less risky than people who took a placebo.

Adjusting Jailed Women’s Beliefs about Their Friends’ Substance Use May Help Reduce Their Drinking and Risk of Reoffending

Brief interventions can potentially reduce incarcerated women’s alcohol use when they leave jail, according to a new study. Researchers explored jailed women’s impressions of how their friends and acquaintances drank and used drugs (“social norms”). Research shows that people who perceive their friends drinking heavily are more likely to drink heavily themselves, while individuals who realize that their friends in fact drink moderately tend to reduce their own alcohol use. Often, perceptions of substance use in a social network are skewed. Past research on this phenomenon has focused on college students, with slight attention to people involved in the criminal justice system. Two in three incarcerated adults have a substance use disorder — compared to one in ten of the general population — and consequently may regard their own alcohol and drug use as typical. Substance use is strongly implicated in criminal justice involvement and reoffending, especially for women. This study in Alcoho

Study Details How General Anesthetics And ‘Benzos’ Act on Receptors in The Brain

Original post: Newswise - Drug and Drug Abuse Study Details How General Anesthetics And 'Benzos' Act on Receptors in The Brain

As you drift into unconsciousness before a surgery, general anesthetic drugs flowing through your blood are putting you to sleep by binding mainly to a protein in the brain called the ɣ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor. Now UT Southwestern scientists have shown exactly how anesthetics attach to the GABAA receptor and alter its three-dimensional structure, and how the brain can tell the difference between anesthetics and the psychoactive drugs known as benzodiazepines – which also bind to the GABAA receptor. The findings were published online today in the journal Nature.

Algorithm aims to alert consumers before they use illicit online pharmacies

Original post: Newswise - Drug and Drug Abuse Algorithm aims to alert consumers before they use illicit online pharmacies

Newswise imageIn a study, a team of Penn State researchers report that an algorithm they developed may be able to spot illicit online pharmacies that could be providing customers with substandard medications without their knowledge, among other potential problems.

Heavy-drinking Rodents Enhance Understanding of Problematic Alcohol Use Patterns

New study findings in mice suggest that repeated binge drinking increases the motivation to consume alcohol to excess. In humans, the pattern of drinking (as well as quantity consumed) can be an important indicator of future drink problems; in adolescents, for example, a binge-drinking pattern can predict development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Studies using laboratory animals that have been selectively bred to drink alcohol (ethanol) in large amounts can provide valuable insights on problematic drinking patterns, using experimental approaches that would be impossible or unethical to apply in humans. Indeed, many important findings on responses to alcohol have been gained from animal studies, conducted to strict welfare guidelines. The latest study, reported in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, examined two behaviors in mice that reflect their motivation to experience alcohol’s rewarding effects on the brain.