NIDA Notes
Onsite HIV Testing in Drug Abuse Treatment Centers
Q & A: Dr. Redonna Chandler
Nicotine Makes Mice More Responsive to Cocaine
In This Section
NIDA Notes keeps you up to date on research advances in the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of drug abuse and addiction and HIV/AIDS.
Featured Articles
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Receptor May Underlie Gender Differences in Response to Smoking Cessation Therapy (May 2013)
Men benefit more than women from nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation because nicotine affects a key neuroreceptor differently in the two sexes, a NIDA-sponsored study suggests. The findings highlight the need for alternative therapies for women smokers, and point to the female hormone progesterone as a potential therapeutic target. -
Nicotine Makes Mouse Brain More Responsive to Cocaine (February 2013)
Nicotine sensitizes the mouse brain to the addictive effects of cocaine, according to recent NIDA-supported research. The results accord with the hypothesis that a person’s initial use of an addictive substance physiologically sensitizes his or her brain to the rewarding and addictive effects of other substances. If the findings carry over to people, then preventing youths from smoking might reduce their vulnerability to cocaine abuse and addiction, and cocaine-dependent individuals might ease their path to recovery by quitting smoking.
Research Briefs
Updates
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Counselors’ Perceptions of Organizational Justice and Support Predict Job Turnover (May 2013)
Forty-seven percent of substance abuse treatment counselors in a national sample left their jobs voluntarily within 3 years.
Director's Perspective
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Seek-Test-Treat-Retain To Stop the Spread of HIV (February 2013)
Despite the advances in treatment and prevention, roughly 50,000 new HIV infections still occur annually in the Nation. Research, in large part supported by NIDA, has produced a strategy to address this circumstance and break the epidemiological impasse: seek out HIV-infected individuals, particularly those in “hard-to-reach” groups that have minimal contact with the health care system; offer them HIV testing and treatment; and provide support to help them stay in treatment.
Graphic Evidence
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Animation: Building an Anti-Drug Vaccine (December 2012)
The immune system has an extraordinary ability to recognize compounds foreign to the body and eliminate them. NIDA-sponsored scientists are working to harness this ability to create vaccines that will protect individuals against the psychogenic and addictive effects of abused drugs. This animation shows one of the most promising strategies, which has already yielded partial success in producing effective vaccines against nicotine, cocaine, and other drugs.
NIDA at Work
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Q & A: Dr. Redonna Chandler (April 2013)
The chief of NIDA's Services Research Branch talks about drug abuse treatment within the criminal justice system, and assesses the challenges facing drug abuse treatment overall in the United States.
Bulletin Board
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Deadline Approaching: U.S.-Mexico Drug Abuse Prevention Research Fellowship (February 2013)
Researchers interested in applying for the NIDA U.S.-Mexico Drug Abuse Prevention Research Fellowship need to submit application materials by April 1, 2013.
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An Anti-Drug Vaccine at Work
Scientists see great promise in the idea of combining vaccines with other interventions to improve patient outcomes in addiction therapy.