News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...tions, reward-motivated actions become a matter of habit and essentially continue regardless of the outcome. This week, Faure et al. examine the turning point between actionoutcome and stimulusresponse associations in the rat nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway....A safer route to school makes children more likely to walk and bike, study shows
...at schools where most children were already in the habit of getting to school by car or bus, behavior changes were less marked. Although projects funded by the Safe Routes to Schools program produced measurable increases in the walking and bicycling habits of affected children, the researchers found that o...NHLBI study shows smoking cessation programs improve survival
... also analyzed mortality data according to smoking habit regardless of whether participants were in the intervention or usual care groups. At the end of the study they found that sustained quitters had nearly half the overall death rate of those who continued to smoke. In particular, death rates of sustain...NIH awards USC $8.7 million to study tobacco use in China
...raditionally smoked far less than men, take up the habit and as Chinese youth begin to experiment with tobacco at increasingly earlier ages. So the need for tobacco use research along the Pacific Rim is greater than ever." The new center's studies will build upon earlier research conducted by the USC Trans...Migraine-sparked vision loss may increase stroke risk in women; Migraine
.... Contraceptive pill use, wine intake and smoking habit was not different between the groups. Analysis showed that those with migraine had 2.7 times the risk of stroke compared to the controls. When migraine was combined with high blood pressure, the stroke risk increased nine-fold, said Massimo Camerl......ers of attitudes toward screening intensity were a habit of annual screening, a woman's perceived risk of c...edback cycle in addition to breaking the ingrained habit of annual screening." The authors point out that even with successful educational efforts, it may be...Animal study shows link between nicotine and atrial flutter
...hat they will take a second look at reducing their habit or stopping it entirely and permanently....Drinking without food may set you up for high blood pressure
...ely than usual, a new study alerts drinkers that a habit of drinking outside of meals may be setting them up for high blood pressure. Research conducted at the University at Buffalo has shown that consuming alcohol mostly without food is a significant risk factor for developing hypertension. The eff...Smokers' lung cancer risk identified in CT screening study
...es were marginal between smokers with a pack-a-day habit for 10 years (6 per 1,000) and smokers who consumed two packs a day for 10 to 15 years (7 per 1,000). Co-authors of the I-ELCAP study are Shusuke Sone, M.D., Steven Markowitz, M.D., Karl Klingler, M.D., Melvyn Tockman, M.D., Dorith Shaham, M.D., Ma...Hopkins Institute for Global Tobacco Control receives elite recognition from PAHO/WHO
... to fight tobacco companies who are promoting this habit to unsuspecting people. This designation will strengthen the ongoing research we have in about 20 countries around the world." The Institute will continue to serve as an educational resource on tobacco-related topics, offering courses and training wo...Good intentions versus bad habits: Why the old ways win out
...gs suggest that even though the strength of an old habit may fade over time, our memory for it will be stronger then any new good intentions that succeed it. ...Burning anxiety: New treatment targets smokers with panic disorder
Not everyone who tries to quit the habit on the Great American Smokeout Nov. 18 will have t...s to help people with panic sensitivities quit the habit and in some cases, help them to avoid developing the disorder in the first place. ...Research news from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University
...r they play on a varsity team or just get into the habit of participating in intramural or pick up games -- the difference may be health benefits for years to come." Wetter, A., Economos, C., Osteoporosis International, 2004, 15: 799-806. "Relationship between quantitative ultrasound, anthropometry and spo...Teenage smoking still 'worryingly high': Girls twice as likely as boys to puff away
...rs at age 13-14, pupils most likely to take up the habit by age 15-16 were those with a more positive attitude towards smoking, who lived with smokers, and had more friends who smoked than didn't. And, again, being a girl." He added: "It is not clear from our results why girls are more likely to smoke. Thi...Optimal time to treat migraine pain with Relpax; is early in the attack, new study finds
...r. "Taking my doctor's advice, I've gotten in the habit of treating as soon as I feel an attack coming on and I am still amazed at how quickly the pain goes away when I treat early with Relpax, and I am able to get back to my day." The study findings are from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled...Carbon monoxide from smoking helps keep arteries open following angioplasty
...In an unusual paradox, smoking cigarettes-a deadly habit that contributes to the development of peripheral artery disease-actually helps arteries stay open following a procedure to repair clogged blood vessels in the legs, according to a study in the June issue of Radiology. The study found that habitual t...Making smart drugs that deliver the right kind of punch
... likely to enter healthy cells as cancer cells---a habit that makes them undesirable for cancer therapy---but that uncharged dendrimers don't invade cells at all unless they have cancer-detecting targeting agents attached. "We can show that, with the targeting molecule attached, an uncharged dendrimer goes...U-M study: Doctors more likely to prescribe pricey new blood pressure drugs
...ers. Ubel suggests doctors might be getting into a habit of prescribing the more expensive medications, forgetting when to use the generics. In fact, ACE inhibitors tend to have more side effects than diuretics or beta-blockers. They're also more expensive, which could drive up the patient's bill at the dr...'Survival sex' and substance abuse may hinder HIV prevention efforts
...ally. Such "survival sex" is a difficult-to-change habit fueled by both economic need and addiction. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) patients were more likely to have unprotected sex than those who did not receive the treatment, perhaps because HAART patients believed they would not transmit H...... with cancer. The study results indicate that the habit of having an annual visit to a clinician for a Pap...d and an integral part of women's health care -- a habit that has been socialized and will be difficult to change. The authors encourage policy makers to con...