Past NIDA Notes Articles

Highlights NIDA’s second annual Chat Day where NIDA scientists and staff responded to drug abuse and addiction questions from teachers and students.

Reports on a discovery of previously unrecognized dopamine receptors in the brain that when triggered by drug abuse lead to potentially long-term neuronal effects.

Reports on a study involving adolescent girls who were treated for delinquent behaviors in a well-supervised family setting, referred to as Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care.

Reports on an animal study suggesting that the manic stage of bipolar disorder promotes signs of drug abuse vulnerability by enhancing sensitivity to rewards, both natural and drug-related.

Reports on research providing evidence that teaching aggressive youngsters social coping skills reduces their chances of becoming substance abusers.

Describes research exploring differences and similarities in the genetic profiles of African-Americans and European-Americans who are heavy smokers.

Highlights NIDA-sponsored research underway to understand and respond to substance abusers’ needs at all points of care, from the initial presentation for treatment through recovery.

Describes research revealing that for up to 6 weeks after smokers quit, their brain cells have more nicotine-binding receptors than nonsmokers, which may explain the struggle to quit.

Examines the incidence of high school seniors’ alcohol- or drug-related driving experiences based on 2001 through 2006 data.

Highlights an animal study involving the self-administration of nicotine among adolescent and adult rats to gain understanding of their potential vulnerability to the substance.

Reports on NIDA researchers who developed a new tracer compound that binds readily to nicotine receptors and enhances positron emission tomography images.

Reports on a study of men with co-occurring substance abuse and antisocial personality disorders and the potential benefit of judicially mandated addiction treatment.

Reports on a series of animal experiments indicating that nicotine exposure during prenatal fetal development damages a set of receptors in the brain's auditory processing center.

Presents data on the length of stay in substance abuse treatment among people who were in treatment as a result of legal pressure as compared with those in treatment voluntarily.

Highlights a project in which nine research centers collaborate with criminal justice partners to test science-based tools for integrating drug abuse treatment in prisons and probation and parole programs.

Highlights findings from a study of former methamphetamine abusers showing evidence of impairment in areas of the brain known to influence cognition, emotion, and decision making.

Describes findings from an animal study showing that cocaine lowers availability of dopamine receptors in the basal ganglia, an area of the brain that includes portions of the reward system.

Describes NIDA’s drug abuse and addiction research priorities for the use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds.

Describes a study among people who had sustained brain injuries to investigate whether certain damaged areas of the brain are associated with the ability to quit smoking.

Describes research with rats to better understand cocaine’s effect on the neural signaling in the learning circuits of the brain.

Presents highlights of a symposium sponsored by NIDA in October 2008 to discuss adolescent brain and cognitive development and consider the impact of drug abuse on young people.

Describes a consortium of three universities that launched a 12-month intensive online program last August that leads to a master's degree in addiction studies.

Introduces five new members to the NIDA National Advisory Council meeting, including Drs. Xavier Castellanos, Steven Childers, Thomas Crowley, Anita Everett, and Hazel Szeto.

Remembers Henry I. "Hank" Yamamura, an eminent neuropharmacologist who pioneered radioligand binding assays, contributing valuable knowledge about neurotransmitter transporters and receptors.

Reports prevalence rates of illicit drug abuse among youths and young adults based on 2007 data from a national survey of drug use and health.

Highlights results from a pilot study suggesting that lofexidine, an anti-hypertensive medication, can enhance success rates among patients taking maintenance naltrexone to avoid opioid relapse.

Highlights a computerized intervention that reduced new mothers' drug abuse in the first 4 months postpartum as reported in a clinical trial of 107 women who abused drugs.

Describes research findings showing differences in protein concentrations in the brain pleasure centers of people who died from cocaine overdose as compared with those who did not abuse the drug.

Reports on a randomized controlled trial of HIV-infected men and women who, as a result of receiving selenium supplements, experienced lower HIV viral load and greater CD4 cell count.

Reports on a link between mental disorders, including mood, anxiety, or personality disorder and nicotine dependence in pregnancy women.

Reports on an animal study showing that methadone, normally used as a therapy for opioid abuse, may prove to be an effective treatment for cocaine abuse.

Discusses research exploring how widespread the reduction of neural activity is in the brain with chronic exposure to cocaine.

Reports on three separate imaging studies illuminating the neurobiology of cigarette craving.

Reports on research showing that increasing the mandatory drug court monitoring sessions for high-risk drug offenders can enhance program success rates.

Highlights NIDA-funded research to develop vaccines against addiction to drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, phencyclidine (PCP), and methamphetamine.

Highlights four Centers of Excellence for Physician Information designed to increase physicians' awareness of research on the medical consequences of drug abuse and addiction and incorporate research findings into clinical practice.

Reports on study results indicating a medication prescribed for schizophrenia and manic phases of bipolar disorder shows promise as a cocaine addiction treatment.

Presents research findings linking 89 genes to drug abuse and dependence, found using genome-wide association studies, a new technique for identifying genes.

Describes new tools under development, including one to visualize cells deep in the brain and another one that remotely activates brain cells.

Describes research findings demonstrating that the immune system participates in the shaping of brain circuits during a child's development, a finding that may shed light on the origins of neurodegenerative diseases.

Offers an overview of some of the NIDA-supported innovative research achievements to reduce the health and social effects of drug abuse and addiction.

Announces the three winners of the NIDA and Scholastic Corporation 2008 Addiction Science Awards honoring high school students’ award-winning addiction-related projects.

Describes research to develop new compounds that match or exceed the pain relief provided by opioids while avoiding their shortcomings.

Describes a booklet that explains what scientists know about how drug addiction changes the brain and affects behavior and clears up misconceptions about drug addiction.

Reports on research showing that newborns whose mothers abused methamphetamine during pregnancy showed lower rates of fetal growth as compared with unexposed newborns.

Highlights the work of investigators who discovered key ways in which morphine may accelerate the progression of AIDS in animal studies.

Describes a study of unemployed methadone patients and the use of assertive outreach and motivational techniques to improve the patients’ employment outlook.

Reviews the changing lifespan of heroin abusers as compared with that of the general U.S. population based on 1962-1997 data.

Describes a new intervention that enhances recovery prospects for substance abusers whose mental illness complicates the path toward recovery.

Reports on scientists who pinpointed the biochemical trigger from morphine that sets off a chain reaction that inhibits an immune cell that is key in fighting viruses and cancer.