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E-cigarette use in UK almost doubled in 2 years, says Europe-wide study

The research, from scientists at Imperial College London, examined e-cigarette use -- and attitudes to the devices -- across Europe between 2012 and 2014. The paper, published in the journal  Tobacco Control , found that the proportion of people in the UK who had tried an e-cigarette had increased from 8.9 per cent to 15.5 per cent -- higher than the European average. The research also showed the proportion of people across Europe who considered the devices dangerous had also nearly doubled, from 27 per cent to 51 per cent. E-cigarettes work by delivering nicotine into the lungs in the form of a vapour. The devices contain nicotine in a solution of either propylene glycol or glycerine and water, and sometimes flavourings. When a person sucks on the device, a sensor detects the air flow and heats the liquid inside the cartridge, causing it to evaporate. Experts fiercely debate whether the devices help people give up smoking, and if they are safe -- with some studies raisi...
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What can Pavlov's dogs tell us about drinking?

Indeed, Pavlovian cues that predict alcohol can lead us toward addiction. And sometimes those cues can become desirable in and of themselves, as shown in a new study published in  Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience  by researchers from Concordia University in Montreal. "Alcohol addiction is compounded by our ability to learn about predictive cues," says Nadia Chaudhri, the study's lead author and professor in the Department of Psychology. "Conditioned reactions to those cues can trigger behaviours that result in drinking, like turning into the SAQ or reaching for a beer." The results of the study suggest that cues that predict alcohol can become highly desirable; therefore, people may keep drinking because of the pleasure derived from our interactions with them. According to this research, drinkers wishing to make a change in their habits shouldn't just focus on the booze itself, but on all the factors that surround alcohol consumption. "M...
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Party on(line): The link between social media, alcohol use

MSU researchers found that when participants in a study were exposed to ads touting beer, as opposed to those selling bottled water, they were more inclined to consider drinking alcohol . "In this study we wanted to see whether just the mere exposure to alcohol messages on social media makes any difference in terms of people's expressing intentions to consume alcohol, as well as engage in alcohol-related consumption behaviors," said Saleem Alhabash, assistant professor of advertising and public relations who headed up the study. In the study, 121 participants were exposed to ads on Facebook, one group viewing ads for a brand of beer, the other a brand of bottled water. At the end of the study, as an incentive for taking part, the participants were offered one of two gift cards -- one for a bar, the other for a coffee shop. Of those who saw the beer ad, 73 percent chose the bar card. Of those who saw the water ad, only about 55 percent chose the bar card. "W...
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Exploring the rise and fall of alcohol-related mortality in Scotland: Affordability

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Alcohol-related deaths (underlying trigger) in Scotland and England & Wales (E&W) by intercourse 1991-2012 Credit score: Sources: Nationwide Data for Scotland and the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics The rise and fall of alcohol-related mortality in Scotland is partly because of modifications in affordability, in response to experiences revealed in  Public Well being. New analysis has discovered that the rise in alcohol-related mortality in the course of the 1990s and early 2000s in Scotland, and the next decline, had been more likely to be defined partially by growing then lowering alcohol affordability. The analysis was undertaken to know higher what the impartial affect of the Scottish Authorities's alcohol technique was. Different components apart from the technique and the affordability of alcohol had been additionally thought-about together with migration, historic social, financial and political change, the alcohol market, soc...
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How the brain makes, and breaks, a habit

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Working with a mouse mannequin, a global staff of researchers demonstrates what occurs within the mind for habits to regulate habits. Credit score: © gustavofrazao / Fotolia Not all habits are unhealthy. Some are even crucial. It is a good factor, for instance, that we will discover our means dwelling on "autopilot" or wash our palms with out having to ponder each step. However incapacity to modify from performing habitually to performing in a deliberate means can underlie dependancy and obsessive compulsive problems. Working with a mouse mannequin, a global staff of researchers demonstrates what occurs within the mind for habits to regulate habits. The research is revealed in  Neuron  and was led by Christina Gremel, assistant professor of psychology on the College of California San Diego, who started the work as a postdoctoral researcher on the Nationwide Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the Nationwide Institutes of Well bein...
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Pharmacist prescribes education as key to curbing opioid abuse

Writing in the latest issue of the journal  Current Pain and Headache Reports , Kaye and his co-authors argue that such technologies are no substitute for education. "Education is the foremost strategy," Kaye said. "We must educate primary care providers, surgeons, pharmacists and other health professionals, as well as patients. That education must take place prior to the starting point of opioid therapy -- and it needs to be independent of the pharmaceutical industry." The article, titled "Current State of Opioid Therapy and Abuse," lays out a grim diagnosis and alarming prognosis for opioid misuse and abuse: Opioid misuse increased by 4,680 percent between 1996 and 2011. Opioids were involved in 28,647 deaths in 2014, triple the number in 2000, and represented 61 percent of all drug overdose deaths. More than 90 percent of patients who survive a prescription opioid overdose continue to be prescribed opioids, usually by the same prescriber. Pre...
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Social media use may help identify students at risk of alcohol problems

"This work underscores the central role that social networking sites, or SNSs, play in helping students coordinate, advertise and facilitate their drinking experiences," says Lynsey Romo, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and co-lead author of a paper on the work. "The study also indicates that students who are at risk of having drinking problems can be identified through SNSs." "We started this project with a threshold question: what drives students to drink and post about alcohol on SNSs," says Charee Thompson, an assistant professor of communication studies at Ohio University and co-lead author of the study. To address that question, the researchers conducted an online survey of 364 undergraduate students at a Midwestern university. The students were all over 18, reported having consumed at least one alcoholic drink in the past month, and had an active Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account. Study participants were asked about ...
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