Acamprosate reduces the number of patients being treated for alcoholism who return to drinking, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The drug showed moderate benefits in trials when used in addition to non-drug treatments. Drinking too much alcohol increases the risk of ill health...

A new study from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet suggests that bipolar disorder - or manic-depressive disorder - does not increase the risk of committing violent crime. Instead, the over-representation of individuals with bipolar disorder in violent crime statistics is almost entirely attributable to concurrent substance abuse...

A brain-scanning study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, conducted with collaborators from Stony Brook University, reveals that an oral dose of methylphenidate, commonly known as Ritalin, improves impaired brain function and enhances cognitive performance in people who are addicted to cocaine...

Although codeine-ibuprofen can be considered a relatively weak opioid analgesic, it is nevertheless addictive and more research is needed to develop health care responses to its misuse, according to an article in the Medical Journal of Australia...

Following the imprisonment of Maxim Popov in April 2010, sentenced to 7 years jail primarily for the promotion of HIV prevention efforts in Uzbekistan, the International AIDS Society (IAS) notes with alarm the detention of a medial practitioner working in HIV prevention in Ukraine. Dr...

The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Northern Ireland has called on the Executive to take the advice of the Health and Social Development Ministers and follow Scotland's lead in proposing a minimum price for alcohol of 45 pence a unit...

Patricia Russo, chairman of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America provided keynote remarks and joined Steve Pasierb, Partnership CEO and Ken Winters, PhD., chairman of the organization's science advisory board and professor at the University of Minnesota, to review a number of new research-based programs from the Partnership at the National Prevention Network Prevention Research Conference...

German scientists from Tübingen and Mainz have developed a blood test that can reliably detect gene doping even after 56 days. Scientists at the universities in Tübingen and Mainz have developed a test that can provide conclusive proof of gene doping...

The BMA has welcomed plans to set the minimum price per unit of alcohol in Scotland at 45 pence. Commenting on the proposed price announced by the Cabinet Secretary this morning, Dr Brian Keighley, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said that so far, no credible alternative to minimum pricing had been identified by opposition parties and he urged them to back the Alcohol Bill...

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are DNA sequence variations that occur when a single nucleotide in the genome sequence is altered. Prior research suggested an association between SNPs in a gene that encodes aspects of the brain's gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)-A receptors (the GABRA2 gene) and alcohol dependence...