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Research Demonstrates CBD May Ease Cravings of Opioid Addiction
Recent research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry demonstrates that among those with opioid addiction, the cannabis compound cannabidiol (CBD) may help to dampen cue-triggered cravings, anxiety, and reduce stress hormone levels. In a released statement, the study’s lead author, Yasmin Hurd—a neuroscientist and director of the Addiction Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—explained that CBD’s ability to reduce stress levels are not confined to opioid-related conditions: “It’s just that this particular anxiety leads someone to take a drug that can cause them death, and anything we can do to decrease that means increasing the precious chance of preventing relapse and saving their lives.” Among the researchers next steps include identifying effective dosing outcomes.
Recent Findings May Lead to News Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease
New research published in Science Translational Medicine demonstrates that a destruction-resistant form of alpha-synuclein called fibrils accumulates in Lewy bodies and that “brain cells can respond with a trio of proteins to tag these fibrils for breakdown.” In a statement made to Scientific American, Fredric Manfedsson—an assistant professor of translational neuroscience at Michigan State University—explained: “Perhaps the most important aspect is the identification of a pathway that can be manipulated to clear misfolded or pathological alpha-synuclein from a cell." Researchers noted, however, that while as the findings arose from research completed with mice models, extensive research will need to be completed to establish the therapeutic potential for this approach in humans.
Is There A Relationship Between the Gut Microbiome and Breast Cancer?
New research published in the journal Cancer Research demonstrates that disrupting the the gut microbiome may result in a more aggressive breast cancer. The researchers used a mouse model of hormone receptor-positive mammary cancer and modified the rodents’ gut bacteria balance by providing them with powerful antibiotics and performing a fecal microbiota transplant of dysbiotic fecal contents. This disruption resulted in inflammation within the mammary tissue. One of the study’s authors, Melanie Rutkowski, Ph.D, explained: “In this inflamed environment, tumor cells were much more able to disseminate from the tissue into the blood and to the lungs, which is a major site for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer to metastasize, These findings suggest that having an unhealthy microbiome, and the changes that occur within the tissue that are related to an unhealthy microbiome, may be early predictors of invasive or metastatic breast cancer.” The researchers cautioned against deducing definitive conclusions from the study’s preliminary findings.
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