London, UK: The legal “high” known as “Benzo Fury” may have stimulant as well as hallucinogenic effects according to new research presented at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience (BNA2013). In a poster presentation at the meeting, Dr Jolanta Opacka-Juffry and Dr Colin Davidson report that one of the main ingredients of Benzo Fury […]
Distorted thinking in gambling addiction: what are the cognitive and neural mechanisms?
London, UK: Fascinating new studies into brain activity and behavioural responses have highlighted the overlap between pathological gambling and drug addiction. The research, which was presented at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience (BNA2013) has implications for both the treatment and prevention of problem gambling. Dr Luke Clark, a senior lecturer at the University […]
New research shows how our bodies interact with our minds in response to fear and other emotions
London, UK: New research has shown that the way our minds react to and process emotions such as fear can vary according to what is happening in other parts of our bodies. In two different presentations at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience (BNA2013) in London, researchers have shown for the first time that […]
Foetal exposure to excessive stress hormones in the womb linked to adult mood disorders
London, UK: Exposure of the developing foetus to excessive levels of stress hormones in the womb can cause mood disorders in later life and now, for the first time, researchers have found a mechanism that may underpin this process, according to research presented at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience (BNA2013) in London. The […]
First trial to investigate magic mushrooms as a treatment for depression delayed by UK and EU regulations
London, UK: The world’s first clinical trial to explore the use of the hallucinogenic ingredient in magic mushrooms to treat depression is being delayed due to the UK and EU rules on the use of illegal drugs in research. Professor David Nutt, president of the British Neuroscience Association and Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College […]
Fertility after ectopic pregnancy: first randomised trial finds reassuring evidence on the effect of different treatments
The first randomised trial to compare treatments for ectopic pregnancies has found no significant differences in subsequent fertility between medical treatment and conservative surgery on one hand, and conservative or radical surgery on the other. The study, which is published in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1], compared three ways of treating an […]
Insomnia is linked to increased risk of heart failure
People who suffer from insomnia appear to have an increased risk of developing heart failure, according to the largest study to investigate the link. The study, which is published in the European Heart Journal [1], followed 54,279 people between the ages of 20-89 for an average of more than 11 years, and found that those […]
Muscle, skin and gastrointestinal problems cause a quarter of patients with heart disease and strokes to stop treatment in HPS2-THRIVE trial
The largest randomised study of the vitamin niacin in patients with occlusive arterial disease (narrowing of the arteries) has shown a significant increase in adverse side-effects when it is combined with statin treatment. Results from the HPS2-THRIVE study (Heart Protection Study 2 – Treatment of HDL to Reduce the Incidence of Vascular Events), including the […]
Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased deaths after heart attacks
Air pollution contributes to an increased number of deaths among patients who have been admitted to hospital with heart attacks, according to a study published online in the European Heart Journal [1]. The largest study yet to investigate the links between fine air-borne particulate matter (PM) and patient survival after hospital admission for acute coronary […]
Lung cancer set to overtake breast cancer as the main cause of cancer deaths among European women
Lung cancer is likely to overtake breast cancer as the main cause of cancer death among European women by the middle of this decade, according to new research published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology [1]. In the UK and Poland it has already overtaken breast cancer as the main cause of cancer deaths […]