Category: University of Alabama at Birmingham

New research shows that psychedelic drugs may help decrease crime

On By A.P.In acid, Crime, Criminal Justice, Drugs, Human Behavior, Johns Hopkins University, Journal of Psychopharmacology, LSD, magic mushrooms, marijuana, MDMA (Ecstasy), Medicine, Psilocybin, TASC, Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities, University of Alabama at BirminghamLeave a comment

lsd

Psychedelic drugs could help to keep ex-offenders out of prison, new research suggests.

U.S. scientists have found that drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms could be used to help reform criminals under community correction supervision.

It has previously been thought that LSD could be used to treat alcohol addiction, but the new research is the first in 40 years to suggest it could be used to stop criminals from re-offending.

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, collected data about 25,622 people under community supervision between 2002 and 2007.

All study participants were in the Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities (TASC) program, for people with a history of drug abuse, including alcohol addiction.

The researchers found that criminals diagnosed with a hallucinogen use disorder were less likely to fail the TASC programme, appear in court and be arrested and imprisoned, compared to those who did not have a history of taking the drugs.

Just one per cent of people on the programme were diagnosed with a hallucinogen disorder, while heavy users of cocaine, cannabis and alcohol were the most common.

‘Our results provide a notable exception to the robust positive link between substance use and criminal behaviour,’ the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

‘They add to both the older and emerging body of data indicating beneficial effects of hallucinogen interventions and run counter to the legal classification as well as popular perception of hallucinogens as categorically harmful substances with no therapeutic potential,’ they added.

The scientists believe that offenders may be especially likely to benefit from LSD treatment as many people become criminals as a result of drug-seeking behaviour and impulsive conduct, often caused by compulsive drug use.

The study took factors such as race, employment, age, history of drug abuse and crimes, as well as gender and education into account.

However, the researchers warned that the findings of the study should not be seen to advocate recreational use of psychedelic drugs.

‘Nevertheless, they demonstrate that, in a real-world, substance-related intervention setting, hallucinogen use is associated with a lower probability of poor outcome,’ they wrote.

They believe the research should be the start of a continued investigation into the use of psychedelic drugs to treat criminals.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2537137/Could-LSD-cut-crime-Psychedelic-drug-help-prevent-criminals-offending.html#ixzz2qK1CX9Vz
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New study shows that getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night significantly increases risk of stroke

On By A.P.In Alabama, Birmingham, Health, obstructive sleep apnea, Stroke, University of Alabama at BirminghamLeave a comment

Getting a good night’s rest continues to be of utmost importance to your health. New data from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows too little sleep can increase the risk for stroke symptoms in people with a healthy body-mass index who are at low risk for obstructive sleep apnea and have no history of stroke.

The study, being presented June 11, 2012, at the SLEEP 2012conference in Boston, looked at self-reported sleep data from 5,666 people ages 45 and older who were followed up to a three-year period. In people with a low risk for obstructive sleep apnea and a BMI of 18.5 to 24.99, which is considered optimal, there was a four-time greater risk of stroke symptoms in participants who had fewer than six hours of sleep per night, compared to participants in the same BMI range who got seven to eight hours of sleep per night. The study found no association between short sleep periods and stroke symptoms among overweight and obese participants.

“We adjusted for many possible factors that could explain this increase, including hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep disordered breathing and being overweight or obese,” explains Megan Ruiter, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a UAB post-doctoral fellow in the Division of Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine.

“Despite controlling for other known stroke risk factors, we still found the association between sleeping less than six hours and reporting stroke symptoms, like sudden body weakness or numbness or deficits in vision,” says Ruiter. “These participants may be late in the development of a stroke. It is possible they may have had a stroke but it was not verified with a physician.”

Sleep specialist Susan Harding, M.D., who was not involved with this study, says these findings do not surprise her.

“Short sleep duration is already associated with cardiovascular death and other cardiovascular related events,” says Harding, director of UAB’s Sleep/Wake Disorders Center. “What is different with this study is that it specifically looked at people who are at a normal weight, which means they are less likely to have diabetes — which is a stroke risk factor — and found they are still at increased risk of stroke symptoms.”

The study also found a differential risk according to racial group.

“We find that sleep duration might partially explain the relationship between ethnic differences in stroke symptoms,” Ruiter adds. “African-Americans had a greater prevalence of short sleep, and they were more likely to have stroke symptoms.”

Ruiter notes that sleep duration was self-reported by participants, making it a limitation of the study, as recall accuracy can vary.

“We need to see if sleep duration is related to actual stroke events. It would be great to learn more about what it is about sleep duration. Is it actually sleep fragmentation, or perhaps the perception of your sleep and the factors that contribute to its quality rather than sleep duration itself? These are all really important factors that are modifiable through behavioral treatment,” says Ruiter.

Data used for this study comes from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, led by George Howard, DrPH, of the UAB School of Public Health. REGARDS enrolled 30,239 people ages 45 and older between January 2003 and October 2007, and it continues to follow them for health changes. The study is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/2483-sleep-debt-hikes-risk-of-stroke-symptoms-despite-healthy-bmi