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The authors of the study investigated the impact of reducing nicotine doses on body weight, and results revealed that reduction of nicotine dose from a large self-administered dose to very low doses resulted in substantial weight gain. In rats self-administering a maximally-reinforcing dose of nicotine, body weight gain during the 20-day study period was attenuated by ~40% despite no change in food intake. As lead author Laura Rupprecht said, "The findings are important in the context of potential product standards requiring very low nicotine levels in cigarettes, as they indicate that low nicotine levels may still reduce body weight, possibly motivating continued use and maintaining exposure to harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke." The results of the four experiments in the study also indicate that the weight-suppression properties of nicotine may act through processes that are separate from those that contribute to nicotine addiction. A better understanding of the s...

An LSE expert on happiness and behaviour has launched a free online tool to help people who want to cut down on alcohol. Professor Paul Dolan, author of the bestselling book Happiness by Design, used insights from behavioural science to create the innovative and easy-to-use tool. It uses a simple brain-training exercise, known as a 'cognitive bias modification' (CBM), to reduce any unconscious preference people may have for alcoholic drinks over non-alcoholic ones. As Professor Dolan has highlighted through his work, people often put a lot of faith in willpower to change their bad habits. The problem is willpower is unreliable, and is a poor way of controlling impulsive behaviors like alcohol-use in the long term. This brain-training exercise, however, has a proven impact in changing behaviour. A recent study shows alcoholics who undertook just four 15-minute training sessions over four days saw a reduced preference for alcohol. The treatment group also had a 13% lower ...

"Current intervention methods appear to have limited effectiveness in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems among fraternity and possibly sorority members," said lead researcher Lori Scott-Sheldon, PhD, of The Miriam Hospital and Brown University. "Stronger interventions may need to be developed for student members of Greek letter organizations." The study appears in the journal  Health Psychology , which is published by APA. The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 15 studies looking at 21 different interventions involving 6,026 total participants (18 percent women) who were members of fraternities and sororities . They found no significant difference between students who received an intervention and those who did not for alcohol consumption per week or month, frequency of heavy drinking, frequency of drinking days or alcohol-related problems. In some cases, alcohol consumption even increased after an intervention. Alcohol use is com...

Across all states, excessive drinkers would pay more than 5 times as much as nonexcessive drinkers on a per-person basis, and would pay nearly $3 in $4 of the increased cost of alcohol following the state alcohol tax increases examined in the study. Even the largest hypothetical tax increase ($0.25 per drink) would cost those who don't drink excessively an average of less than $10 per year. Additionally, the study found that drinkers who were non-Hispanic whites and those with higher household incomes would pay higher per capita costs than people with lower incomes and racial minorities , reflecting the fact that those with financial means tend to drink more than their counterparts. "This study shows that, contrary to popular opinion, alcohol tax increases don't unfairly burden those who drink less or are financially disadvantaged," said Tim Naimi, MD, MPH, physician and alcohol epidemiologist at BMC who is the lead author of the study. "This is important be...

Single microglia cell within the mind. DNA within the cell physique is labeled in blue, and in purple and inexperienced are totally different proteins expressed solely by microglia which present the frilly processes of those cells. Credit score: MUHC A sort of mind cell referred to as microglia performs a key function in decreasing the consequences of cocaine within the mind, in keeping with a serious examine by a staff from the Analysis Institute of the McGill College Well being Centre ( RI-MUHC ) in Montreal. The invention, revealed within the journal  Neuron , establishes for the primary time that microglia can diminish the antagonistic modifications to neural circuitry introduced on by the continual use of cocaine and has vital implications for growing an efficient therapy for habit. Microglia will not be as effectively referred to as neurons, the mind cells that relay messages, however they've many essential capabilities. They always ...

The danger of NAFLD was considerably larger within the ALDH2*2 allele carriers than within the non-carriers. Credit score: Dr. Kentaro Oniki Individuals who have lowered enzyme exercise to breakdown energetic aldehyde, i.e., those that turn out to be simply inebriated, usually tend to develop fatty liver illness even when they don't drink alcohol. This discovery was made by a scientific analysis group from Kumamoto College in Japan. It's usually understood that fatty liver is triggered by alcoholism or heavy ingesting. Not too long ago, nevertheless, the variety of sufferers with non-alcoholic fatty liver illness ( NAFLD ), a kind of liver perform dysfunction brought on by growing impartial fats within the liver that's brought on by overeating and lack of train, has elevated. NAFLD is definitely missed due to the dearth of related signs, and it's typically solely discovered when it has progressed to a sophisticated stage, reminis...

The findings show that via school burnout, adolescents' excessive internet use can ultimately lead to depression. Exposure to digital addiction is most likely to happen if the adolescent loses interest in school and feels cynicism towards school. Fostering enthusiasm for learning is paramount The research suggests that the most critical stage for tackling the problem of digital addiction and school burnout is age 13-15. The most effective way of supporting adolescents' mental health and preventing excessive internet use is to promote school engagement, to build up students' motivation to learn, and to prevent school burnout. Depressive symptoms and school burnout in late adolescence are more common among girls than boys. Boys suffer more from excessive Internet use than girls. The study was carried out among Helsinki adolescents aged 12-14 and 16-18. The former group of early adolescents consisted of lower-school 6th graders born in 2000. The late adolescents were...

A research team led by Suzanne C. Swan, PhD, of the University of South Carolina, sought to answer some of those questions. Their study, published by the American Psychological Association's journal  Psychology of Violence , sought to determine the prevalence of drink spiking by looking at survey data from 6,064 students at three universities. What the researchers found was 462 students (7.8 percent) reported 539 incidents in which they said they had been drugged, and 83 (1.4 percent) said either they had drugged someone, or they knew someone who had drugged another person. "These data indicate that drugging is more than simply an urban legend," Swan said. The study found significant gender differences. Women were more likely to be the victims of spiking and reported more negative consequences than men, the study found, although men comprised 21 percent of the victims. Women were also more likely to report sexual assault as a motive while men more often said the p...

A research team led by Linda Spear, distinguished professor of psychology at Binghamton University, gave alcohol to rats every other day, starting from early to mid-adolescence. When the team looked at the same rats in adulthood, they found that adult males didn't show hormonal stress adaptation, making them more vulnerable to chronic stress. "Stress hormones are released when you get anxious or are in a stressful circumstance," said Spear. "The classic stress hormone is cortisol in humans; it's corticosterone in rats. When you expose the animals to a stressor, the first time they show a large hormone stress response. However, this hormonal response normally adapts over time, such that less hormone is released following repeated exposure to a relatively mild stressor. And that's important, because cortisol or corticosterone helps you respond to an emergency. But it's bad to have elevated levels in the long term, because sustained elevations in these ...

Marijuana vegetation. The variety of adolescents who had issues associated to marijuana -- equivalent to changing into depending on the drug or having bother in class and in relationships -- declined by 24 p.c from 2002 to 2013. Credit score: © Jag_cz / Fotolia A survey of greater than 216,000 adolescents from all 50 states signifies the variety of teenagers with marijuana-related issues is declining. Equally, the charges of marijuana use by younger individuals are falling regardless of the actual fact extra U.S. states are legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana use and the variety of adults utilizing the drug has elevated. Researchers at Washington College College of Medication in St. Louis examined information on drug use collected from younger folks, ages 12 to 17, over a 12-year span. They discovered that the variety of adolescents who had issues associated to marijuana -- equivalent to changing into depending on the drug or having bother i...