Study Finds First Direct Evidence That ADHD Is A Genetic Disorder
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Cigarette and alcohol use by eighth, 10th and 12th-graders are at their lowest point since the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey began polling teenagers in 1975, according to this year’s survey results. However, this positive news is tempered by a slowing rate of decline in teen smoking as well as continued high rates of abuse of other tobacco products (e.g., hookahs, small cigars, smokeless tobacco), marijuana, and prescription drugs. The survey results, announced today during a news conference at the National Press Club, appear to show that more teens continue to abuse marijuana than cigarettes; and alcohol is still the drug of choice among all three age groups queried.
A survey of more than 33,000 Italian high school students reveals that both underweight and overweight teens consume 20 to 40% more illegal drugs than their normal-weight peers. The work, led by Sabrina Molinaro and Francesca Denoth of the Italian National Research Council, is reported in the Nov. 16 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE. Check the end of this report for a link to download the full-text article.
Computer analysis of brain scans could help predict how severe the future illness course of a patient with psychosis will be, according to research funded by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. The findings could allow doctors to make more accurate decisions about how best to treat patients. Psychosis is a condition that affects people’s minds, altering the way they think, feel and behave. It can be accompanied by hallucinations and delusions. The most common forms are part of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but symptoms of psychosis can also occur in conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and alcohol or drug abuse.
Substance use is widespread among adolescents in the United States, particularly among those of Native American, white, Hispanic and multiple race/ethnicity, and these groups are also disproportionally affected by substance-related disorders, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The research was conducted by Li-Tzy Wu, Sc.D., of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and colleagues.
Impulsive individuals tend to display aggressive behavior and have challenges ranging from drug and alcohol abuse, to problem gambling and difficult relationships. They are less able to adapt to different social situations. Impulsivity is also a common feature of psychiatric disorders. New research in Biological Psychiatry shows that people may react this way, in part, because they have lower levels of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter, in a specific part of their brain involved in regulating self-control.
Young people who are genetically vulnerable to depression should be extra careful about using cannabis: smoking cannabis leads to an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms. This has emerged from research carried out by Roy Otten at the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen that is published in the online version of the scientific journal Addiction Biology. Two-thirds of the population have the gene variant that makes one sensitive to depression.
Social media websites, such as Facebook and MySpace, may reveal information that could identify underage college students who may be at risk for problem drinking, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The research was conducted by Megan A. Moreno, M.D., M.S.Ed., M.P.H., of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and colleagues.
Adults rate drug abuse and childhood obesity as the top health concerns for kids in their communities, according to the fifth annual survey of the top 10 health concerns for kids conducted by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. Check the end of this report for a link to download the complete report.
Adolescents who misuse controlled medications (e.g., pain, stimulant, sleeping and antianxiety medications) for which they have a legitimate prescription may be more likely to abuse other substances and to sell, give or trade their controlled medications to other individuals, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The research was carried out by Sean Esteban McCabe, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues.
