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These journal issues were received recently by the ADAI Library. Click on the link to connect to tables of contents.
Addiction Research & Theory 16(1)
Drug & Alcohol Dependence 95(1/2)
Drug & Alcohol Review 27(1)
Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy 15(1)
Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy 15(2)
Journal of Substance Use 13(1)
Journal of Substance Use 13(2)
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Long-term changes in the brain's dopamine-releasing machinery may explain why methamphetamine addiction is so strong, according to a study published by lead author Nigel S. Bamford, MD, UW Department of Neurology, and colleagues from the UW and other research institutions.
The research team treated mice with methamphetamine and monitored how extended exposure to the drug affected dopamine levels. The researchers focused on the dopamine machinery in the brain's corticostriatal region, which is believed to contain the "habit" circuitry that plays a major role in the compulsive drug seeking seen in people addicted to methamphetamine and amphetamine.
Long-term exposure to methamphetamine caused a depression of the synaptic dopamine machinery in the corticostriatal region that lasted for months after the mice were no longer given the drug. However, a dose of methamphetamine reversed the depressive effects on the synaptic dopamine machinery.
The researchers also found that the drug produced its long-term effect by altering specific types of receptors for dopamine and another neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
They concluded that the mechanism they identified "might provide a synaptic basis that underlies addiction and habit learning and their long-term maintenance."
The findings, which were published in the April 10 issue of the journal Neuron, could help lead to more effective treatments for addiction to methamphetamine and related drugs.
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Research by Clayton Neighbors, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UW Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors was noted in an April 8 story in the New York Times about the dangerous ritual of drinking extreme amounts of alcohol to celebrate a 21st birthday. Dr. Neighbors is studying Internet-based interventions he hopes will convince more young people to moderate their drinking on their 21st birthdays. In one study of 316 students, to be presented at the American Psychological Association conference this year, those who were given Web-based information about drinking prior to their 21st birthday drank less than students who didn’t receive the information.
Students in the intervention group were asked how much they planned to drink on their 21st birthday and how common they believed extreme drinking really is. The interactive tool then showed them that only a minority of students drink 21 or more drinks. It also calculated a student’s blood alcohol level based on the amount he or she planned to drink. Giving students extra information about drinking appeared to result in blood alcohol levels that were about 25 percent lower than the group that wasn’t given the information, he said.
“One of the problems is a lot of these kids don’t realize that 21 drinks in an hour can kill you,'’ Dr. Neighbors said.
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These journal issues were received recently in the ADAI Library. Click on links to connect to the table of contents.
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 32(1)
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 32(2)
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 26(1/2)
American Journal of Public Health 98(4)
Journal of Addictive Diseases 27(1)
Journal of Addictive Diseases 27(2)
NIAAA Alcohol Alert no. 74
SAMHSA DASIS Report March 20, 2008
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