The effects of amphetamines on gene expression in zebrafish have been uncovered. A new study provides clues to the genetics that underlie susceptibility to addiction by describing the nad zebrafish mutant, which does not feel the rewarding effects of the drugs.
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Exposing rats to a context associated with eating chocolate activates a part of the brain’s reward system known as the orexin system. The results have implications for the development of new drug treatments for overeating.
When you break it down, initially, drug abuse seems extremely. You may even find yourself wondering why your loved one would want to choose drugs over you and the rest of their family. This is especially difficult if you are married or in a relationship with someone who is addicted to drugs. Not only can drugs be emotionally draining, but it can put a financial strain on a relationship- especially if that person is in trouble with the law because of rampant drug abuse. With that being said, how do you know if your loved one is addicted to drugs? The following are the five (5) “Ifs” of Addiction:
- If he spends most of his sober time thinking about the substance of choice, to the point that it distracts him from other things.
- If he comes up with ways to structure events around things that may get in the way of using or drinking.
- If he uses/drinks, it creates problems in his life (financial, physical, emotional or spiritual) — but he continues to use or drink.
- If his behavior when he is under the influence is totally out of character, negatively affects others and he have blank spots (called blackouts). The lack of control means the substance now controls him and this is no longer a choice.
- If he needs to use/drink more to get the same feeling or “high,” he is developing a tolerance to it. His body is growing used to the substance, which is never a good sign.
Hope for the Future
Coming to terms with addiction is a very big step but it’s not something that has to be done alone. The support of family and loved ones plays a crucial role in making that admission then following through to get the care you or your loved one needs for his or her drug addiction.
For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, or to learn more about our 30 day drug and alcohol rehab program, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!
Childhood adversities have a predictive role in peptic ulcer, according to new research. The most common adversities were long-lasting financial difficulties in the family, serious conflicts in the family, and a family member seriously or chronically ill. Age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios of childhood adversities varied between 1.45 and 2.01. Adjusting for smoking, heavy drinking, stress and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use had no further influence.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), adherence to low-risk dietary and lifestyle factors was associated with a significantly lower incidence of self-reported hypertension (aka: high blood pressure). There were also reported incidences of new-onset hypertension occurring among young women, which brought cause for alarm. The investigation, conducted by Dr. John P. Forman and colleagues, from Harvard Medical School, Boston, involved an analysis of data from women in the Nurses’ Health Study. The goal was to assess the impact that diet and lifestyle on the risk of high blood pressure.
The Study
Specifically, Dr. Forman’s objective was to estimate the “fraction of hypertension incidence associated with dietary and lifestyle factors in women”. In order to do this, the cohort study was made up of over 83,000 women aged anywhere from 27 to 44 years old who didn’t have hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes or cancer back in 1991, and who had normal blood pressure. The study then followed the health of these women through 2005 to see what changes, if any, occurred during the 14-year time frame. For the study, the researchers identified several low-risk factors for the purposes of studying the risk associated with developing hypertension.The six (6) low-risk, modifiable lifestyle and dietary factors for hypertension included:
- a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25
- a daily mean of 30 minutes of vigorous exercise
- a high score on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet based on responses to a food frequency questionnaire
- modest alcohol intake up to 10g/d
- use of nonnarcotic analgesics less than once per week
- intake of a folic acid supplement.
The Results
Out of the 83,882 cases that were studied, a total of 12,319 incident cases of hypertension were reported. According to an article in Reuters,
The presence of 6, 5, 4, and 3 of the factors cut the risk of high blood pressure by 78, 72, 58, and 54 percent, respectively, relative to the complete absence of these factors.
The factor with the single greatest impact on high blood pressure was body weight. Women who were obese were 4.7-times more likely to develop high blood pressure than were women of normal body weight.
For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, or to learn more about our 30 day drug and alcohol rehab program, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!
Are You Truely Powerless OVER Your ADDICTION? This is the gremilin that keeps many in recovery up at night.
First, we must come to grips with what addiction is.
Second, the factors causeing addiction.
Many argue that no matter what your addiction (Narcotics, Alcohol, Weed, or even Glue) are all by-products of 3 things – Genetics, Environment, and choice.
Now I can’t say I completely understand all these factors; but I can definately relate to at least 2 of them.
For me the answer came one faithful day last week – maybe you will be able to relate. I was watching CSI: Miami (Best Show EVER!) I enjoyed that epesoide, which was perfectly fine my problem was that I continued to enjoy to episoides well into the weeee… hours of the early morning (4:00 am) to be exact.
Now that wouldn’t be a problem, execpt for the fact that “try as I may”, I was POWERLESS to turn off the darn tube. What made it worse was that I had to wake up at 7:00am to go to work – a 9 hour shift (Not Good).The next day it was the same scenerio – then it hit me like a Larry, Curly, and Mo. Sledge hammer over the head. I had an addiction problem, I wasn’t an addiction because of the drugs, I was an addict because of my lifestyle habits - drugs was just the worse expression of that addiction.
Procrastion, endless hours watching the income reduction box(TV), my constant search for pleasure, my desire to never miss anything, to always go at fast and furious speeds, we all a symtom of my addiction. This became as evident as the sky is blue on that Saturday when my girl friend tried to change the channel from a game of GOLF…I pretty much bit her figures off to get the remote.
The funny thing is I don’t even like GOLF (Can you say addict – YEAH I sure fit that bill). If this sounds like you, I hate to be the one to break it to you but you’re an addict – by nature of your habits, not just the DRUGS.
Peace,
Thanks for letting me share.
Traditionally, when most of us think about alcohol and gender, our thoughts turn to scenes of guys in crowded, smoky bars ordering drinks. Well, according to one news report by The Vancouver Sun, the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is reporting that approximately one in twenty-five (25) deaths are directly attributed to alcohol consumption; and this number is steadily increasing due to the number of women who are starting to consume more and more alcohol.
Yikes.
The news report also goes on to point out something of interest. When someone contracts a disease or an illness befalls them (such as a smoker developing lung cancer, etc.), many of us don’t think twice about it because we see the correlation between the disease and the cause. Another example can be seen when someone whom we would consider to be an alcoholic develops cirrhosis of the liver or suffers from alcohol-related seizures. Again, there is a very distinct and clear correlation between the two. But have you ever stopped to think about all of the people- specifically, all of the women who are diagnosed with cancer each year? According to the news report, alcohol can influence several hormonal systems in your body, thereby causing various diseases such as mouth, throat, colorectal and breast cancers.
Quoting Dr. Jurgen Rehm from the Vancouver Sun news article,
The public doesn’t always recognize an alcohol-related death; It’s not like if your neighbour dies of lung cancer, and you assume he was a smoker. Nobody ever assumes that their neighbour’s breast cancer was because she was a drinker.
Here is a sobering statistic; did you know that a woman who consumes three (3) alcoholic drinks per day increases her risk of getting breast cancer by approximately fifteen (15) percent? Perhaps the public needs to pay greater attention to the risks involved in alcohol consumption and alcohol abuse.
For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, or to learn more about our 30 day drug and alcohol rehab program, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!
Teens who drink heavily are more likely than their peers to have behavioral and attention problems and suffer from anxiety and depression, a Norwegian study has found.
The following video portrays one mother, Vivian Baltz, speaking about her daughter, Leslie (1976-1997) who died at the University of Virginia after drinking too much alcohol at a college party. Watch the video and realize that alcohol abuse takes many forms and doesn’t have to involve someone who is an alcohol addict. Rather, it can just be someone who is out to have a “good time” and makes the unfortunate mistake of abusing an alcoholic substance.
For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, or to learn more about our 30 day drug and alcohol rehab program, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!
At least half of clinic patients with the human immunodeficiency virus report they also drink heavily. Findings show that co-existing HIV infection and chronic alcoholism synergistically damage brain function. Specifically, immediate episodic memory was impaired, while working memory remained intact.
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