Tag: study

Can Eating Less Junk Food Cause Withdrawal Symptoms?

A new study examined whether cutting back on junk food could produce symptoms similar to those experienced when quitting tobacco or pot.

A body of research on the effects of highly processed foods has suggested that cutting down on regular consumption of such items have resulted in physical and psychological symptoms.

The latest research to support this theory comes from the University of Michigan, where a study has suggested that reducing the amount of highly processed foods in one’s diet may produce symptoms similar to those experienced when quitting tobacco or marijuana.

The study, which utilized a modified questionnaire used to assess symptoms for other dependency-forming substances, may offer a new means of measuring and understanding the impact of processed foods on individuals.

In the study—published in the September 2018 edition of the online journal Appetite—a group of 200 adults aged 19 to 68 who’d been on diets that involved cutting down on junk food in the past year were given a questionnaire, called the Highly Processed Food Withdrawal Scale which is modeled after a similar tool used to measure symptoms that occurred after individuals quit smoking or using marijuana.

Based on the study group’s self-reported information, withdrawal symptoms, including mood swings, cravings, anxiety and headaches, were determined to be most intense between the second and fifth days after making an attempt to reduce junk food intake—which according to study lead author Erica Schulte, echoes a timeframe similar to one experienced by people who undergo drug withdrawal.

Researchers noted that the study did have several limitations, most notably a lack of information on the intensity of withdrawal symptoms or which methods participants used to change their intake, whether through gradual reduction or complete elimination from their diets.

The study also did not ask participants to record their withdrawal symptoms in real time, but instead asked them to only recall the scope of the symptoms as a whole.

Still, the study did contribute to growing awareness of the possible dependency-forming aspect of highly processed foods, and the results may help individuals who consider reducing such items from their diets to prepare for the possibility of side effects.

According to Schulte, it may also provide some insight into the barriers that may cause people to stop making such changes, or even leave treatment to address dependency issues altogether.

View the original article at thefix.com

3 October 2018
Virus That Infected Our Ancestors May Play a Role in Addiction

Researchers studied whether the retrovirus played a part in promoting addiction in some individuals.

A virus that infected a human-related species more than 250,000 years may be the key as to why some individuals are more likely to develop dependencies towards drugs or alcohol.

A recent study found that traces of an ancient retrovirus – a virus that inserts its genetic code into its host’s DNA – known as HK2 was up to three times more likely to be found in the genetic makeup of individuals who had contracted either HIV or hepatitis C through intravenous drug use than individuals who had become infected through other means, such as sexual intercourse.

Traces of the HK2 virus are believed to exist in approximately 5 to 10% of the global population.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Athens in Greece and Oxford University in London, England, was published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences and was comprised of two parts: the Greek research group analyzed the genes of more than 200 individuals with HIV, while the English group looked at the DNA of approximately 180 individuals infected with the hepatitis C virus.

The Greek researchers found that the members of their study group that contracted HIV from intravenous (IV) drug use were 2.5 times more likely to have traces of the HK2 retrovirus in their genetic makeup than those who became infected through intercourse or other means.

The English researchers found similar results in their study group, with those who contracted hepatitis C through IV drug use and were long-time drug users 3.6 times more likely to have traces of the retrovirus in their genes than those who were infected in another manner.

As Live Science noted, when HK2 is found in an individual’s DNA, it is found in a gene called RASGRF2, which is involved in the release of dopamine – the neurotransmitter linked to the brain’s pleasure circuitry, and the chemical released by the brain in large amounts during drug use which scientists believe causes the repetition of such experiences.

The second part of the study yielded less concrete results: scientists inserted traces of HK2 into the RASGRF2 gene in human cells that did not already contain it. While they discovered that the virus changed the means in which DNA created proteins, it remained unclear as to its direct connection to addictive behaviors.

According to co-senior study author Aris Katzourakis, professor of evolution and genomics at the University of Oxford, the study is “the first time that researchers have shown that an ancient viral insertion that’s variably present in the population has a measurable, in this case detrimental, effect on our biology,” though as CNN noted, the RASGRF2 gene was associated with binge-drinking in a 2012 study.

The next step is to determine how HK2 influences dependent behaviors, with the end goal being a “drug to target” where the retrovirus has infiltrated the gene.”

Doing that may allow science to “help people recovering from this kind of behavior,” said Katsourakis.

View the original article at thefix.com

29 September 2018
Could "Magic Mushrooms" Help You Stop Smoking?

A new study examined whether psilocybin could help long-time smokers put down their butts for good.

Once dismissed as a remnant of ’60s counterculture, and eventually banned as a Schedule I drug, psilocybin—the naturally-occurring psychedelic compound found in certain species of mushrooms, thus earning them the sobriquet “magic mushrooms”—has in recent years been ushered to the forefront of medical and psychological research for its reported efficacy in treating any number of health conditions, including depression and alcoholism.

Now, a new study suggests that psilocybin may also help to curb smoking, as evidenced by the results of six years of research involving smokers who had tried and failed to quit smoking on multiple occasions.

The study found that through controlled psilocybin use and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), more than half of the participants had successfully quit smoking after a six-month period—a higher rate of abstinence than with CBT alone, according to researchers.

The study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, involved 15 study participants—10 men and 5 women, all at an average age of 51, and who smoked, on average, slightly less than a full pack (19 cigarettes) daily for 31 years. All had attempted to stop smoking on previous occasions, but had failed.

The study authors administered treatment to the participants and then followed up with them over a period of six years, between 2009 and 2015.

The treatment consisted of carefully controlled and monitored psilocybin use in conjunction with CBT. After a period of more than two years, the researchers invited the participants to take part in a follow-up interview to determine if and how the treatment affected their smoking. Twelve of the original 15 participants took part in the interview.

What researchers found was that the 12 participants had not only succeeded in complete smoking cessation after six months, but also experienced a host of additional emotional and psychological responses to the treatment.

Participants said that through a combination of the treatment, counseling, a “strong rapport” with the study team, and a sense of momentum after taking part in the study all contributed to their achieving abstinence.

They also reported “gaining vivid insights into self-identity and reasons for smoking” from the psilocybin treatment, and the sense of “interconnectedness, curiosity and awe” continued after the treatment had ended. Participants also said that they felt an array of “persistent” positive feelings, including “increased aesthetic appreciation, altruism, and pro-social behavior” as a result of their participation.

The researchers concluded that the results of their study underscored the value in continuing research into what some have labeled “psychedelic therapy,” and recommended future research trials.

Their findings also supported previous study findings by Johns Hopkins researchers, which suggested that lifetime smokers treated with psilocybin experienced twice the rate of abstinence than those who used the FDA-approved drug Chantix.

View the original article at thefix.com

26 September 2018
How Octopuses Feel On MDMA

A new study revealed some interesting findings about the anti-social, eight-legged invertebrates.

While octopuses and humans are separated by more than 500 millions years of evolution, we may share one fascinating similarity—how we respond to MDMA.

According to new research, published in the journal Current Biology last Thursday (Sept. 20), octopuses exposed to MDMA “tended to spend more time” with other octopuses.

The results of the study are especially fascinating because these eight-legged animals are naturally asocial, except when mating. Those that were not exposed to MDMA avoided other octopuses.

As NPR reported, “The researchers knew from previous tests that an octopus would normally stay far, far away from a second octopus that was confined to a small cage inside the first one’s tank. But an octopus on MDMA would get up-close and personal with the new neighbor.”

Gül Dölen, assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, conducted the experiment after finding a striking similarity in how serotonin binds to brain cells in octopuses and humans while analyzing the genetic code of the California two-spot octopus.

MDMA was administered to the octopuses by placing the invertebrates in a beaker of seawater with the drug, that was absorbed through the gills.

They started them off at a high dose, to see how they would react. “They really didn’t like it. They looked like they were freaked out,” said Dölen. “They were just taking these postures of super hypervigilance. They would sit in the corner of the tank and stare at everything.”

The animals reacted much differently when given a lower dose.

“After MDMA, they were essentially hugging. [They were] really just much more relaxed in posture, and using a lot more of their body to interact with the other octopus,” said Dölen.

Dölen and her colleagues acknowledge that the animals’ lovey-dovey behavior has yet to be affirmed. Another neuroscientist who was not involved in the study asked, “Is it really affection? How would we know? It’s totally fascinating and super-suggestive, but I am not 100% convinced that this is doing the same thing in octopus and in human.”

He added, “It just shows us how much we don’t know and how much there is out there to understand.”

View the original article at thefix.com

25 September 2018
Underlying Social Issues May Be Fueling The Opioid Epidemic

“If we solve the [opioid] sub-epidemic, will there be another sub-epidemic that comes on its heels?” asks one expert.

A new study has affirmed that there are underlying social issues when it comes to the opioid epidemic.

The study, published Thursday (Sept. 20) in the journal Science, determined that drug overdose deaths have been increasing since 1979, well before opioid abuse began climbing in the 1990s.

According to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, this could mean that rising overdose deaths are actually connected to “larger societal problems like alienated communities and an increasingly disaffected population.”

During the study, researchers examined data from about 600,000 deaths categorized as drug overdoses from the National Vital Statistics System. In doing so, they discovered that the overdose deaths “followed an almost perfectly exponential trajectory” from 1979 to 2016.

Researchers found that the overdose deaths doubled about every nine years, and that by 2016 it had increased to one death every eight minutes.

“This smooth, exponential growth pattern caught us by surprise,” Dr. Donald S. Burke, senior author and dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, told ABC News. “It can be hard to grasp what exponential growth really means, but you can think of it as a nuclear explosion: you start with 2 [deaths due to drug overdose], then 4, then 8, then 16, and so on.”

Though the increase in overdose deaths was consistent, researchers did not find that there was any similar predictability when determining deaths from a specific drug.

By utilizing a method called heat-mapping, researchers were able to plot overdose patterns across the country and found that while certain drugs were more prominent in certain areas, nearly every region showed an overdose “hotspot” for at least one drug.

In doing so, the researchers came to the conclusion that overdose deaths have continued to increase even though the use of individual drugs has fluctuated over time.

“It implies that there are other forces at work, besides the specific drugs,” Burke told ABC News. “The forces are broader and deeper than we thought, including social determinants of health and technological determinants of health.”

Burke further explains, “The drugs have become cheaper over the years and their delivery systems have become more efficient… These factors increase drug availability. People are losing a sense of purpose in their lives and there has been dissolution of communities, making people more susceptible to using drugs—increasing demand.”

While Burke agrees that treatment programs and availability of the overdose antidote naloxone are helpful for individuals, he worries that not enough is being done to address the underlying issues.

“If we solve the [opioid] sub-epidemic, will there be another sub-epidemic that comes on its heels?” Burke said. “If we don’t address the social determinants of health that underlie drug use and addiction, there’s a good possibility that the drug overdoses will start to emerge again.”

View the original article at thefix.com

24 September 2018
Could A Skin Graft Prevent Cocaine Abuse?

Researchers studied whether skin gene therapy could reduce cocaine-seeking behaviors.

The drug addiction “epidemic” claims tens of thousands of lives each year in America, but until now there has been little talk of ways to immunize people against substance use disorder.

However, in the future that may be possible, according to new research that found that skin grafting might be used to protect people from cocaine addiction.

“Adapting this approach for humans could be a promising way for blocking addiction,” Qingyao Kong, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, wrote for The Conversation.

Kong was part of a team of researchers that demonstrated that skin grafting could be used in mice to reduce cocaine-seeking behaviors and make the mice less susceptible to overdose when given large amounts of cocaine. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Humans naturally produce an enzyme called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), which can break down cocaine into inactive, harmless components. BChE can be modified to metabolize cocaine even more rapidly than it naturally would, and has been identified as a possible treatment for cocaine addiction. However, it is tricky to deliver the active enzyme and keep it functioning.

To overcome this, Kong’s team tried using skin grafts to deliver the enzyme.

“So instead of giving the enzyme to the animals, we decided to engineer skin stem cells that carried the gene for the BChE enzyme,” Kong wrote. “This way the skin cells would be able to manufacture the enzyme themselves and supply the animal.”

To trial the idea on mice, the team first used gene editing to incorporate BChE into skin stem cells from a mouse.

“These engineered skin cells produced consistent and high levels of the hBChE protein, which they then secreted,” Kong wrote. Then, the cells were used to grow skin tissue in a lab, which was then grafted onto mice.

“With the genetically engineered skin graft releasing hBChE into the blood stream of the host mice, we hypothesized that if the mouse consumed cocaine, the enzyme would rapidly chop up the drug before it could trigger the addictive pleasure response in the brain,” Kong wrote.

They were correct. Animals with the skin graft did not get the dopamine high when they dosed on cocaine, meaning they had no motivation to consume more. “Skin graft of the hBChE-cells efficiently blocks the cocaine-induced reward effect,” Kong explained.

In addition, it acted as an immunization against overdose. Half of the control mice exposed to large doses of cocaine died, but none of the mice with the graft did.

The team then tested whether human skin cells would also produce BChE after being modified, and found that they would.

“This suggests the concept of skin gene therapy may be effective for treating cocaine abuse and overdose in humans in the future,” Kong wrote. In addition, other enzymes that target alcohol and nicotine could potentially be used, allowing the skin graft technique to treat individuals with those addictions.

View the original article at thefix.com

22 September 2018
Are Teens' Brains More Vulnerable To Addiction?

It all comes down to the developing brain.

While teenagers have always experimented with mind-altering substances, they are at more risk of addiction than ever. The combination of modern drug availability and the specific vulnerability of the teen brain make the teen years a higher risk for addiction than in adulthood.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 35.6% of high school students say they have tried marijuana, 60.4% have tried alcohol, while 14% say they have misused opioids to get high.

The teenage human brain is not “fully wired” Dr. Frances Jensen, chair of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told the Philly Voice. Because the teenage brain is literally still growing—still building the synapses that connect portions of the brain and create connections for memories, skills and rewards—it has high synaptic plasticity.

And this, the Philly Voice note, makes the teenage brain is specifically vulnerable to addiction.

While this plasticity allows for powerful healing properties as well as learning abilities, it also leaves the brain more vulnerable to addiction.

It has been widely discussed in the last decade that the teen brain has an undeveloped frontal lobe, the area that primarily responsible for ultimately making decisions.

Teens are notoriously prone to impulsive decisions and struggle to see future consequences as a reality.

The connections in the teen frontal lobe are not yet covered with the myelin sheath, the covering that allows signals to travel rapidly throughout the brain.

“That plays into getting addicted in the first place,” Jensen told Philly Voice. “There’s this increased propensity to take risks and try substances – despite the fact that you might know it’s really bad for you.”

Yet Jensen points out a bright side, “If you can get them into rehab, you have better results in rehab. You can undo the circuit. You still have a better ability to remold the circuit – if you can capture it.”

This is why programs for drug and alcohol rehabilitation often incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy for teenagers struggling with addiction.

“They are really good learners at this age,” Jensen told the Philly Voice. “They’re very interested in their brains. They’re very interested in what drives their behavior and why they did that stupid thing on Saturday night.”

View the original article at thefix.com

20 September 2018
Doctors Gave No Reason For Writing Opioid Scripts In Nearly 30% Of Cases

A new study uncovered that doctors were prescribing opioids for hypertension and high cholesterol when no pain diagnosis was recorded.

A team at Harvard Medical School and the Rand Corp. combed through medical records from 2006 to 2015 and found that physicians gave no explanation for writing an opioid prescription in 29% of the cases.

According to NBC News, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been working to get doctors to pull back on opioid prescriptions, citing careless prescribing as one cause of the opioid crisis. In 2016, more than 42,000 people died of opioid overdose, according to the CDC.

The new study was led by Nicole Maestas, professor of health care policy at Harvard. Maestas and study coauthors went through tens of thousands of medical records, and then honed in on more than 31,000 physician surveys that included an opioid prescription.

In two-thirds of the prescriptions, some type of pain diagnosis was present.

The report, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, then concluded, “No pain diagnosis was recorded at the remaining 28.5%.”

“At visits with no pain diagnosis recorded, the most common diagnoses were hypertension, hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), opioid dependence and ‘other follow-up examination,’” the research revealed.

This over-prescribing could be unfairly impacting people who do have serious pain conditions and are finding it difficult to access the opioids they need to manage their pain due to new restrictions and doctors who fear that they will be targeted for over-prescribing.

Dr. Tisamarie Sherry, who worked on the study, was reported in NBC News as emphasizing, “Whatever the reasons, lack of robust documentation undermines our efforts to understand physician prescribing patterns and curtails our ability to stem overprescribing.”

The study also showed that 24% of youth who appeared with an opioid use disorder did not have a prescription to a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) drug to control their cravings.

Drugs like buprenorphine and methadone are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid use disorder.

“In this multistate study of addiction treatment and retention in care, we found that three-quarters of youths diagnosed with opioid use disorder received treatment within three months,” researchers wrote in JAMA Pediatrics. “However, most treatment included behavioral health services only, and fewer than one of four youths received timely buprenorphine, naltrexone or methadone treatment.”

View the original article at thefix.com

14 September 2018
Are Moms With Opioid Addiction At Heightened Risk For Overdose?

A new study examined pregnant women and new moms with opioid use disorder.

After finding out she was pregnant with her second child while in a Massachusetts prison, Katie Raftery entered treatment for heroin use. She stayed seven months, until her son was born. It wasn’t until he was about six weeks old that she began to feel the familiar urges to return to using.

According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, a new study shows that women who use opioids, like Raftery, are at greater risk of an overdose in the year following their child’s birth.

Rather than return to using, Raftery was able to use her insurance coverage and reach out to her doctor to ask for buprenorphine, a medication that can treat opioid use disorder. But not all women in the country have the ability to take similar actions.

According to the Herald Tribune, in states that do not offer expanded Medicaid, low-income women lose their insurance coverage eight weeks after giving birth. Addiction experts say this is concerning, as it makes a relapse during postpartum depression and opioid cravings more likely.

“As a whole, women with substance use disorders do quite well during pregnancy, due in large extent to access to care, insurance coverage and attention from social services,” Mishka Terplan, an obstetrics and gynecology physician at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, told the newspaper. “Where things fall apart is postpartum. We actually abandon women after delivery.”

Terplan served as the co-author of the study published last month. During the course of the study, researchers kept track of more than 4,000 women with opioid use disorder in Massachusetts, for the duration of the year before and after giving birth.

The study’s results indicated that deaths from opioid overdoses decrease during pregnancy, but increase in the seven to 12 months following birth. Since all of the women involved in the study resided in Massachusetts, insurance coverage was not a factor.

Davida Schiff, lead author of the study and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells the Herald Journal that sustaining care for women well after childbirth is vital.

“Pregnancy seems to be a time for change. Women tend to make healthier decisions during pregnancy. So, for women with an opioid addiction, it can be a motivating moment,” she said.

“We should capitalize on the emotions women feel during pregnancy, and sustain their care or enhance it during the postpartum period, which is arguably the most challenging.”

The Herald Journal states that while the opioid epidemic has hit the country hard as a whole, it has impacted subgroups, like pregnant women and new moms, especially hard.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that between 1999 and 2014, the number of pregnant women who used opioids more than quadrupled.

View the original article at thefix.com

11 September 2018
Bees May Become "Addicted" To Pesticides, Study Claims

The possibility for an addictive response underscores the concern over global use of the controversial insecticide.

Researchers in London have found that bumblebees may develop a preference for food that is laced with pesticide that can echo the addictive effects of nicotine on humans.

The study looked at a class of pesticide from the neonicotinoid family, a controversial form of insecticide used in farming that some scientists have claimed can be harmful to bees. When offered options for food—one with the pesticide and one without—bees initially preferred the latter, but upon consuming the chemically-treated food, they returned to it with greater frequency.

The possibility for an addictive response underscores concern over global use of neonicotinoids, which were banned by the European Union in 2018.

The study, conducted by researchers from London’s Imperial College and Queen Mary University, was intended to reproduce real foraging behavior by bumblebees, including social cues used in that activity.

To determine if the introduction of neonicotinoids into the bees’ food sources, 10 colonies of bees were introduced to several sucrose feeders, each containing a solution with varying degrees (in parts per billion) of a neonicotinoid called thiamethoxam.

Over a period of 10 days, the researchers found that bees initially preferred what IFL Science called the “pure” solution, which contained no pesticide. But once a bee consumed a solution that contained thiamethoxam, it would return to that solution more regularly and avoid the pure solution. Changing the position of the feeders also appeared to have no impact on the bees’ preference for the pesticide-laced solution.

The researchers’ comparison between the bees’ reaction to the neonicotinoid and human response to nicotine is not accidental: as study lead author Richard Gill noted in a statement: “neonicotinoids” target nerve receptors in insects that are similar to receptors targeted by nicotine in mammals.”

As Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension Service posted on its site, the term “neonicotinoid” is translated literally as “new nicotine-like insecticide.”

Though agriculturalists and scientists are split on how neonicotinoids affect bees, they cause paralysis and eventual death in the bugs they are intended to repel, such as aphids or root-feeding grubs. Unlike contact pesticides, they are absorbed by the plant and transported through its system, and will remain in the plant for many weeks.

And while studies have shown that the pesticide class is less harmful to birds and mammals, others have suggested that it can affect a variety of crucial foraging skills for bees, including motor functions and navigation.

Some have even linked the increase in the population of bees in the city over those located in rural areas to the use of such pesticides. The potential for harm to bees is among the key reasons why the European Union chose to ban the use of neonicotinoids in agriculture, save for permanent greenhouses, in 2018.

However, in his statement, Gill wrote, “Whilst neonicotinoids are controversial, if the effects of replacements on non-target insects are not understood, then I believe it is sensible that we take advantage of current knowledge and further studies to provide guidance for using neonicotinoids more responsibly, rather than necessarily an outright ban.”

View the original article at thefix.com

7 September 2018