Past NIDA Notes Articles

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.

Reports on a study involving researchers who successfully desensitized mice to cocaine by genetically altering their dopamine transporters.

Highlights the NIDA International Program which works to strengthen international research networks, creating opportunities for global research collaboration, training, and scientific exchange.

Describes a knowledge- and resource-sharing system for NIH-funded neuroscientists to access to data, advanced research tools, and technical assistance.

Describes research providing evidence that maternal smoking during pregnancy contributes to behavioral conduct disorders among toddlers, school-age children, and teens.

Alerts readers to the new renamed journal, Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, formerly titled Science and Practice Perspectives.

Presents highlights of a meeting of scientists and clinicians to review research results from the field of social neuroscience, the study of how neurobiology and the social environment interact.

Reports on evidence that toluene abuse can harm the nervous system and body, although scientists know relatively little about its specific actions.

Reports on the prevalence of substance abuse among youth based on 2007 data from a national survey of behaviors, attitudes, and values.

Describes a new research finding indicating that the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft), prescribed to relieve depression during the methamphetamine withdrawal process, may make quitting harder.

Describes a new chemical tracer that binds specifically to cannabinoid receptors making it potentially useful in future research to clarify the relationship between the receptors and drug abuse.

Describes a study showing that cocaine, which increases dopamine levels, also can tap into an intracellular dopamine reserve pool.

Describes a study investigating the use of the antidepressant bupropion as a potential therapy for methamphetamine addiction.

Summarizes research on the effects of long-term regular cocaine abuse on the cardiovascular system in African Americans.

Presents evidence that among men and women with HIV, those who received early initiation of HAART therapy, those with higher CD4+ levels, achieved better immune recovery.

Reports on research showing that the neurons that deliver dopamine to two regions of the brain's mesolimbic reward system respond differently to opioids, an important finding for drug treatment research.

Discusses the role of epigenetics, the study of cellular mechanisms that control gene expression and its impacts on health and behavior, in addiction research.

Describes research investigating the use of a treatment that combines vouchers and cognitive behavioral therapy as compared with the use of either treatment alone for marijuana abuse.

Reports on research of chronic cocaine abusers who may feel they are sleeping better during early abstinence revealed that the opposite may be true.

Describes the work of researchers who have found a statistical link between one region on chromosome 17 and an increased risk of opioid dependence.