Research Briefs

Summarizes research suggesting a physiological difference as the explanation for African-Americans' reported low tolerance for pain.

Summarizes findings from a 10-year study that monitored smoking and progress to other drugs among youth that found ethnicity to be an influential factor.

Summarizes an animal study of the neural changes in the amygdala portion of the brain that occur as a result of cocaine exposure followed by withdrawal of the drug.

Reports on an analysis comparing three types of addiction treatment programs: methadone maintenance programs, long-term residential programs, and nonmethadone programs.

Summarizes a study that analyzes factors associated with the risk of drug addiction among 19- to 21-year-old Hispanic women born in the United States as compared with immigrants.

Summarizes animal studies indicating that an antipsychotic drug, trifluoperazine, prevents morphine tolerance in mice.

Reports on research that successfully traced rats’ liking for sweets to a 1-cubic millimeter site in the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens in the brain.

Reports findings from a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of naltrexone as a supplement to nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation.

Summarizes a study on the use of incentives to encourage abstinence among methadone maintenance patients in outpatient programs.

Presents highlights of a study indicating that exposure to morphine during adolescence may increase sensitivity to the drug during adulthood.