Health News

Drinking Early Leads to Drinking Later
The Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI) is used to evaluate adolescent drinking related problems. A new study shows that RAPI is not only an effective screening method but also a predictor of alcoholism.
This is Your Brain on Drugs
People with addictions to stimulants tend to choose instant gratification or a smaller but sooner reward over a future benefit, even if the future reward is greater.
End Addiction with a Vaccine?
Researchers have produced a lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a safe vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine.
Second-Hand Smoke Does It Again
Past studies have shown that women smokers have a higher risk of cervical cancer. Now, new research shows that second-hand smoke may damage cells in a woman's cervix, increasing her risk of cervical cancer.
Don't Miss a Beat
A meta-analysis of 14 studies has led researchers to believe that even moderate alcohol consumption can contribute to atrial fibrillation, or irregular heart beat.
Pass Out Hard, Sleep Lightly
For decades, researchers have known that alcohol can affect your quality of sleep. Now, a new study shows that the alcohol disrupts the quality of sleep in healthy women more than in healthy men.
Risk Assessments
Children of alcoholics face a steep uphill battle -- against their at-home environment, their families, even their genetics. Fortunately there is more awareness and research devoted to alcoholism's effects on children than ever before.
This Word Isn't on the Street
The number of stroke patients with a history of street drug use has risen more than nine fold in the past 13 years, according to a new study from the University of Cincinnati.
Reefer Madness
Psychotic illnesses may develop earlier in those who smoke marijuana compared to those who do not smoke the plant.
Tobacco Control
The FDA  announced that it issued its first warning letters to retailers for the illegal sale of tobacco products to minors in violation of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act). Using state inspectors who have been commissioned by the agency, the FDA visited 493 different retail establishments in Mississippi over the past three months and issued 25 warnings. Mississippi was the first state to participate in the FDA’s State Enforcement Program, which got underway in the summer of 2010 and is designed to help enforce many provisions of t...