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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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. -
Brief Intervention Helps Adolescents Curb Substance Use (January 2013)
NIDA-funded researchers have gathered evidence that brief interventions can help adolescents move away from drug use. In a clinical trial, middle and high school students markedly reduced their substance use following two 60-minute sessions that combined motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy.
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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Adolescent Cigarette, Alcohol Use Declines as Marijuana Use Rises (February 2013)
Fewer teens are using cigarettes, alcohol, and most illicit drugs, according to NIDA’s latest Monitoring the Future study. Troubling trends persist in marijuana use, however, and nonmedical prescription drug use remains a concern.
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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.