We Restore Hope -

Sometimes it’s better to put love into hugs than to put it into words. ~Author Unknown

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have identified a gene associated with multiple cases of alcoholism, drug abuse and other addictive behaviors in white women of European origin.

The research used data collected in genome-wide studies and found a strong and significant association between a gene located on chromosome 11 – known as PKNOX-2 – and multiple dependencies among white women involving nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, opiates and other drugs. The women with this gene were almost twice as likely as white men, black women or black men to have two or more of the addictions.

“This information can be used to design preventive and or treatment strategies for addiction by controlling the environment exposure in the targeted group and or by exploring and developing medications that modify the expression of the gene,” said Heping Zhang, Ph. D., professor in the division of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health and the author of the study.

There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go. ~Author Unknown

I lost a dear and special friend today. He was the kindest and most generous man I ever knew. For him the world was always an unfair place and he could never understand why the weaker were taken advantage of and kindness was always confused for weakness. I hope he has found the peace and love he was searching for.

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. ~Albert Einstein

September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. The observance highlights the societal benefits of substance abuse treatment and emphasizes that recovery from substance abuse is possible. Each year a new theme is selected.

Recovery Month celebrates those in recovery and the people who help them every day. It also tries to educate the public on substance abuse as a national health crisis. Educating the public reduces the stigma associated with addiction and treatment. This helps people understand the importance of supporting treatment programs, those who work in the field and people who need treatment.

For more information, go to www.recoverymonth.gov.

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced new advice on over-the-counter medicines containing codeine and dihydrocodeine to minimize the risk of overuse and addiction.

This follows recent advice from the government’s scientific advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines. The package of measures include clear and prominently positioned warnings on the label and patient information leaflet about the risk of addiction. It also emphasizes the importance of not taking these medicines for more than three days.

Large packs of effervescent codeine containing products will no longer be sold in the pharmacy, but will be available by prescription. MHRA Director of Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines, Dr. June Raine, said that taken in the correct way and for the right reasons, codeine and dihydrocodeine are effective and safe.

“However, these products can be addictive and we are taking action to tackle that risk,” she said.

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~George Bernard Shaw

Nearly a third of all cocaine seized in the United States is laced with a dangerous veterinary medicine – a livestock de-worming drug that has been blamed in at least three deaths and many serious illnesses.

The medication called levamisole has killed three people in the U.S. and Canada and more than 100 people became ill. The drug can be used in humans to treat colorectal cancer, but it severely weakens the body’s immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to fatal infections.

Scientific studies suggest levamisole might give cocaine a more intense high, possibly by increasing dopamine levels, the brain’s “feel-good” neurotransmitters.

Drug Enforcement Administration documents indicate that 30 percent of all U.S. cocaine seizures are tainted with the drug. Most physicians know nothing about its health risks.

Authorities believe cocaine manufacturers are adding the levamisole in Colombia, before the cocaine is smuggled into the U.S. and Canada to be sold.

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance. ~Saul Bellow

A British teenager being treated for liver failure after a binge-drinking session left his hospital bed to go to the pub. Garath Anderson, 19, went to the pub with his IV and his hospital wrist band and tried to order a beer, but was refused. He settled for a Coke instead.

His father is planning a judicial review to try to overturn National Health Service guidelines that say a patient has to be alcohol free for six months before receiving a liver transplant.

Anderson suffered acute liver failure in early August after drinking 30 cans of beer over a weekend.

Although it is common medical practice in Britain to insist that liver patients go without drinking for six months before being put on the transplant list, it is only a guideline and not a rule. Garath’s father says the policy should apply to older patients with chronic alcoholism, not a teenager who experienced a lapse in judgement and never before needed treatment for an alcohol-related illness.

Don’t expect anything original from an echo. ~Author Unknown

Drinking more than 10 alcoholic drinks a week can increase the risk of developing an irregular heartbeat. Two studies presented in Barcelona recently found that alcohol and caffeine consumption can affect the chances of developing an abnormal heart rhythm, known as atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation greatly increases the risk of heart attack, stroke or other cardiac problems.

The study of 8,830 men and women in Britain, Scandinavia and the United States found that those who drank 10 drinks a week had an 80 percent increased risk of being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation within five years.

Don’t think you’re on the right road just because it’s a well-beaten path. ~Author Unknown

Dr. Drew Pinsky, a well-known addiction specialist said that it is likely that pain medications led disc jockey DJ AM away from his sober path.

“It very slowly and subtly rewakens addiction,” Pinsky said of pain medication.

DJ AM, whose real name was Adam Goldstein, was found dead in his New York apartment on Friday. A crack pipe and prescription pills were found in the apartment. Goldstein was 36 years old.

Pinsky said he believed pain medication Goldstein took for injuries sustained in a plane crash last year contributed to his backslide. Goldstein had celebrated his sobriety and openly talked of his previous addictions to crack cocaine and Ecstasy.