Health&Addictions notes your biggest foe

Health&Addictions notes your biggest foe

Do you always go to bed at 1 a.m. and wake up feeling groggy, or insist on fake tanning during the winter?

If so, you could be one of many smart people still making stupid health mistakes.

Find out exactly what you’re risking and how to make smarter decisions starting today.

Plus, are you ready to quit smoking? Take our quiz...
You’re educated, well-read and are the go-to person for solving your family’s and friend’s problems. 

You consider yourself pretty knowledgeable on many topics but somehow you still manage to make stupid health mistakes.

Your health should be one of your top priorities. 

Delicious Fruit Salads and Salsa Recipes

Rethink Fruit

Amy O'ConnorCotton

-candy sweet melon. Juicy, heart-healthy berries. Plump, mellow mango. Sweet, fragrant peaches, nectarines and apricots. All these summer fruits are delicious alone, but chopped and tossed in low-fat dressings spiked with ginger, lime, or mint, they make colorful, low-calorie dishes you'll want to serve every day.

Credit: Sara Remington

Summer Melon with Fig and Prosciutto

A classic Tuscan blend of sweet, salty, and juicy, this surprisingly low-calorie salad is perfect as an appetizer or side. (Don't overthink the recipe; it calls for three kinds of melon and several types of greens, but you can use what's fresh at the market.) If you've ever bought fresh figs and melonand wondered what to do with them, make this recipe! 

Credit: Jonathan Kantor

Melon Salad with Lime-Ginger Syrup:

Fresh ripe melon tastes even more delicious with a spike of ginger dressed in sweet lime dressing. Melon is a great source of beta-carotene, an antioxidant that may reduce the risk of certain cancers.Ginger, famous as a stomach soother, has loads of other health benefits.

Probiotics 'may help when on antibiotics' study says

Antibiotics use can lead to diarrhoea, but probiotics may hold the solution

Continue reading the main story

People who are on antibiotics may benefit from taking probiotics at the same time, a review of evidence shows.

Scientists at theCochrane Collaboration say taking the supplements could prevent diarrhoea - a common side-effect of many antibiotics.

They looked specifically at cases of diarrhoea caused by the potentially dangerous Clostridium difficile bug.

Experts say probiotics could be a "pre-emptive strike" to ensure a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The probiotic approach is a good idea. It could provide a pre-emptive strike to make sure the balance in your gut is fine”

Prof Brendan WrenLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Antibiotics can disturb the ecosystem of organisms normally present in the digestive system, allowing bacteria such as C. difficile to overwhelm the gut.

And people infected with the bug can suffer from diarrhoea, an inflamed and painful bowel or even death.

Researchers worldwide have been investigating whether probiotics - cocktails of micro-organisms - can keep gut bacteria in check by competing with more harmful bugs.

'Special bacterium'

Scientists from the independent Cochrane Collaboration looked at data from 23 trials involving 4,213 patients who were on antibiotic treatment for a variety of reasons.

The researchers found 2% of patients given probiotics developed C. difficile-associated diarrhoea compared with 6% of patients who were taking placebos.

Professor Brendan Wren of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the review, said: "Research into the prevention of C difficile is important - there is something special about the bacterium and the toxin it produces which allows it to have competitive advantage over other bugs and makes it difficult to get rid of.

"The probiotic approach is a good idea. It could provide a pre-emptive strike to make sure the balance in your gut is fine."

The authors suggest probiotics could be particularly useful when there are outbreaks of C. difficile.

Dr Bradley Johnston, part of the Cochrane team, said: "Implementing the appropriate dose and strains of probiotics in hospitals could provide cost savings and improve quality of life."

And the review showed that people taking probiotics had fewer unwanted side-effects than those on placebos, including stomach cramps, nausea and taste disturbances.

The authors say more work needs to be done to to pinpoint exactly which types of probiotics work best.

And though probiotics were seen to prevent diarrhoea associated with the bug, they note they did not prevent infections with C. difficile.

They suggest this property needs further investigation to help them understand more about how probiotics work.

Ten Behaviors for a Flat Belly

By Erin Palinski-Wade 

Some behaviors can actually help to shrink your waistline and help you keep weight off for good. Here are ten of the best behaviors to start incorporating today to lose weight and banish belly fat for good.

• Deep Breathing: Stress can pack on belly fat and lead to a host of medical issues if not controlled. One of the quickest ways to reduce your stress levels and bring stress hormones (the ones that trigger belly fat storage when elevated for long periods of time) back to normal is by deep breathing. Taking a few long, deep breaths can help to instantly relax you and cut your overall stress.
• Meditating: Meditation is the practice of focusing and concentrating on one particular thing, whether that be a particular sound or object or even your own breath. This increased focus and concentration helps to reduce stress and promote relaxation. In fact, studies show that people who meditate on a regular basis experience less anxiety and depression as well.
• Exercising in short bouts: The more exercise the better, but you may not have the time or ability to exercise for long periods of time, especially when first starting out. So instead of trying to pack in 30 minutes of exercise at one time, space it out. Research has shown that working out in 10-minute intervals three times a day is just as effective for weight loss as working out for 30 minutes at once.
• Sleeping: Sleep is such an important factor in banishing belly fat. Without adequate sleep, your stress levels increase, thus causing you to pack on pounds and fat around your midsection. Lack of sleep is also associated with reduced levels of leptin, the hormone that helps regulate appetite and metabolism. A leptin decrease stimulates appetite and promotes overeating. So in order to shrink your belly, it’s vital to get enough shuteye. Aim for seven to eight hours a night.
• Chewing slowly: When you eat rapidly, your body can’t recognize when you’ve eaten enough. To slow yourself down, make it a point to chew each bite at least ten times and make sure to put your fork or spoon down in between bites.
• Frequent snacking: One major key to losing weight and keeping it off is to not let yourself get too hungry. When you get too hungry, you experience strong food cravings, so when you do get a chance to eat, you eat the wrong things and eat too quickly, which can prevent you from recognizing your body’s cues as to when you’ve eaten enough. Have a small meal or snack every few hours to keep you from getting too hungry.
• Staying hydrated: When you’re slightly dehydrated, your body holds onto more water. This excess water weight can give you a bloated or puffy look, especially in your midsection. Slight dehydration can also increase your cravings and appetite because your brain may misinterpret thirst for hunger. So drink up to slim down! Aim for 64 ounces (8 cups) of water daily.
• Avoiding salt: The more sodium you consume, the more water weight you retain. This water weight then bloats your belly, making your waistline look larger than it really is. So put down the salt shaker and choose fresh, whole foods over salty processed ones.
• Keeping a journal: One of the absolute best ways to get yourself on track with a weight loss plan (and maintain it) is by keeping a food journal. By tracking everything you eat and drink, you can notice when you begin to consume belly-bloating foods as well as double-check that you’re eating belly-fat-burning nutrients on a regular basis.
• Stretching: Stretching is a great way to increase flexibility, strengthen muscles, and decrease stress. In addition, regular stretching helps to reduce exercise-related injuries, which can derail your fitness routine. Aim to spend a minimum of five to ten minutes every day doing a few brief stretches

Napping Tips: 7 Expert Strategies For Maximizing Your Naptime

TIMES. If you're dragging this first day back to work after the holiday weekend, think again before heading for the coffee machine: Taking a short mid-day snooze could actually be a more effective way to give yourself a mental boost. Naps have been shown to counter the effects of sleep deprivation, boost energy and productivity, and improve cognitive functioning, among other health benefits.

But not all naps are created equal. Taking a snooze at specific times of the day and for only certain lengths of time can help you to optimize your naptime and ensure that you wake up feeling rested and refreshed. We enlisted the help of sleep expert Michael Breus, Ph.D. for his best tips on successful napping. Scroll through the list below for seven essential rules.

1. Avoid Naps If You're An Insomniac.

If you're sleep deprived, then you stand to benefit greatly from a short daytime snooze as a supplement to your regular nighttime sleep. But if you suffer from insomnia (meaning you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or both at night), naps could make it even harder to fall asleep at night: Research has found that avoiding naps can actually improve sleep continuity for insomniacs.

"If you've got insomnia, you don't want to be a napper because there's data that shows that the last time you were asleep will directly affect how long it takes you to fall asleep," Breus says. "So if you're asleep taking a nap at 2 p.m., it's going to take you much longer period of time to fall asleep."

2. Give Yourself A 30-Minute Limit.

Short naps should generally last around 25-30 minutes, says Breus. That amount of time allows you to rest without the risk of entering into deep sleep and waking up feeling even more tired.

"The [30-minute] nap is particularly important for people who are tired during the day and didn't sleep enough that night, and want to supplement their sleep a little bit," says Breus. "If you take it longer than 30 minutes, you end up in deep sleep. Have you ever taken a nap and felt worse when you woke up? That's what's happening -- you're sleeping too long and you're going into a stage of sleep that's very difficult to get out of."

3. Try For A "Full Sleep Cycle Nap" If You Have Time.

If you're feeling particularly tired and have time for a 90-minute nap, your body will thank you for it. This amount of shuteye will allow your body to go into REM sleep, which can begin to make up for lost sleep and maybe even enhance creativity.

"The average person's sleep cycle is about 90 minutes, so you either want to take a 25-30 minute nap, or you want to take a 90-minute nap, depending upon how much time you have and how you want to feel when you wake up," says Breus.

4. Try A Caffeine Nap.

Breus recommends trying a short caffeine nap (or as he calls it, a "napalatte"), that can leave you feeling extra energized afterwards. Quickly drink a cup of coffee (slightly cooled, of course) and take a 20-minute nap immediately afterwards. The caffeine will kick in right after you wake up, leaving you feeling mentally sharp and refreshed.

"You're good for four hours, guaranteed," says Breus.

5. Try A Walk Outside Instead Of A Nap After Lunch.

When patients complain of lagging energy after lunch, Breus often recommends taking a walk outside in the sunshine for 15 minutes instead of lying down. If you're tired because of stress or a hectic schedule, spending a little time outdoors may be a more effective energy-booster.

"If you're normally getting tired between one and three in the afternoon, which most people do, that doesn't necessarily mean you need a nap," Breus explains. "It might mean that you need sunlight. Your core body temperature drops at this time of the afternoon and that's a signal to your brain to produce [sleep chemical] melatonin, so going in the sunlight, where melatonin can't be produced, may help."

6. Don't Nap After 4 P.M.

If your tiredness is the result of sleep deprivation, taking a short nap in the middle of the afternoon can give your energy levels a boost. You're most likely to fall asleep isbetween noon and 4 p.m., which matches the low point of the body's circadian cycle.

If you're going to nap at work, Breus advises bringing a "napping kit" with an eye mask, ear plugs, and a mini alarm clock to improve your chances of falling asleep.

7. Even A 10-Minute Rest Can Help.

"We do see value in those kind of naps, absolutely," says Breus of the super-short nap.

Even if you don't fall completely asleep, a five or 10-minute power nap can still be beneficial if you're feeling sleep-deprived. A 2002 study found that snoozing for just 10 minutes can result in greater feelings of alertness after a night of restricted sleep.

ADHD Medication in Childhood Does Not Increase Addiction Risk

By Maia Szalavitz

GETTY IMAGES

The research may help reassure parents who are concerned about the controversy over the use of medications to treat the disorder, which is now diagnosed in 11% of all schoolchildren.  The condition is widely seen as being over-diagnosed, with a rate that has increased 3% to 6% every year between 2000 and 2010 — accompanied by a worrying rise in medication use.Taking medication for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a child does not increase — or decrease — the risk for later addiction or alcoholism, according to a new review of the research.

The review, which was published in JAMA Psychiatry, included over 2,500 participants in 15 different studies.  Whether the drug in question was alcohol, cocaine, marijuana or nicotine and whether the study looked at experimentation or addiction, researchers found no overall difference in risk related to ADHD medication.  The most commonly used ADHD medications are stimulants, typically Ritalin (methylphenidate) or Adderall (a mixture of amphetamines).

“The best evidence to date seems to suggest that treatment with stimulant medication has no substantial role in increasing or decreasing risk for the development of alcohol and drug problems,” says Steve Lee, a co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology at the University ofCalifornia in Los Angeles.

“Stimulants did not contribute to substance abuse, which is one of the major concerns of parents whenever you are starting a child on medication,” says Dr. Joe Austerman, a psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic’s Children’s Hospital, who was not connected with the study.

The question of whether stimulants, which can be addictive themselves, affect addiction risk in ADHD has long been a difficult one.  For one, ADHD itself is linked with a greatly increased risk for all types of addictions.  Secondly, there are compelling reasons to predict either positive or negative effects.

On the concerning side, some animal research suggests that early exposure to such medications could reduce the capacity to experience pleasure, by affecting the development of the brain’s dopamine systems. Alternatively, it could increase a capacity for desire for the drug, which could be re-awakened in adolescent experimentation.  “Early in development, we know that brain structure is changing in immense ways and it could be that at one point in development or in certain brains, [children] are more or less reactive [to the brain effects of the drug],” says Lee. “That could be one mechanism for evidence of a ‘sensitization’ effect, where they would [later] enjoy it more.”

On the other hand, there are reasons to believe that medication would lower addiction risk by reducing stress:  a child who does better in school and with peers while on medication seems far less likely to turn to illicit drugs for relief.  “As far as being protective, that’s a bit more intuitive,” says Lee. “It might improve attention and functioning and may improve relationships with peers, parents and academics.”

One study did show that the earlier children started taking medication, the lower their risk for drug problems — suggesting that the social explanation may be more powerful, but there is not yet enough data on timing and especially on use in the youngest children.

And the only previous meta-analysis of the data, published in 2003, pointed in that direction as well. It suggested that medication reduced addiction risk by at least 40% in participants followed into adulthood.  But studies published since then have had conflicting results, with some even suggesting that children who take medication are at increased risk.  Moreover, two of the authors of that review were later disciplined by Harvard for taking millions of dollars in pharmaceutical industry funding without disclosing it.

“The [new review] was funded by the National Institute on Mental Health and [the authors] didn’t have pharmaceutical company involvement,” says Austerman, “It was more comprehensive and done with much higher fidelity so I feel more confident in citing it as a resource.”

The review was also limited by the fact that the children who take medication are not randomly assigned to do so. “The most common reason parents seek help is not because of the symptoms of ADHD,” Lee says. “It’s all of the problems that are consequences of these [symptoms] like academic failure or, My child can’t get a playdate.”  Consequently, the children who take medication are likely to have the most severe cases. This would actually mean that the research underestimates any protective effects of the medication.

For girls, the review did suggest that medication could protect against addiction — but because this was based largely on one study and most of the others included far more boys, the authors do not see it as conclusive. “I do believe there’s going to be a gender difference,” Lee says, based on the fact that such differences are seen in virtually all psychiatric disorders.

Because of the possibility of misdiagnosis, Austerman suggests that parents who think that their children may have ADHD get comprehensive testing from an expert specialist, not their regular pediatrician.  This is especially true for children who are among the youngest in their class:  research shows they are far more likely to be diagnosed when they really are simply acting their age. Frequent monitoring to ensure the right dose and continued need for medication is also recommended. “For the majority, symptoms are reduced to the point that almost two-thirds of patients don’t need medication into adulthood,” he says.

But he notes that the research is far from definitive. As data across addiction shows, simply being exposed to a drug does not determine whether people will develop substance misuse problems.

Discover The Truth about Your Sensitivity

he Truth About Your Emotiitivity

Are you an Emotional Empath?: Discover The Truth about Your Sensitivity

By Dr. Michael Smith, Ph.D., Counselor and coach for empaths and highly sensitive people.

Can you look at someone and just 'know' what they are going through?  Do you cry easily?  Do you find yourself listening with ease to other people's problems? Do strangers easily share intimate secrets? If so, you might be an empath, and you probably have gone through life being more affected by other people's energies than you realize.
An empath is an individual who has an exceptional ability to feel other people's emotions, sensations, and even their pain. For an empath, it can be like living an episode of Star Trek! You don't even have to try and you just know the motivations and intentions of other people.

Here are some of the traits of those who are known as 'empaths':
* Empaths are good listeners and easily draw out stories from others.
* Empaths generally put others needs before their own, with a deep desire to assist people.
* Empaths are deeply in touch with emotions and tend to cry easily, often for no apparent reason (only to find out later a friend or family member is having a rough time). 
* Empaths often get overstimulated in chaotic public settings (e.g. they tend to avoid public places like malls).
* Empaths do not understand cruelty or violence.
If you resonate with these descriptions, take the empath quiz for a deeper understanding of just what type of empath you are. 

 

You cannot change the fact that you are an empath. It is akin to your eye color; if you are an empath, you were born with a sensitive nervous system.  Being an empath is not teachable; it's not something to learn. However, you can learn to manage and adapt to your empathic nature. Hopefully you will make it your intention to modify the intensity of your experience through adaptive means (meditation, movement, grounding, etc.). However, it is quite common for empaths to modify the feelings through not-so-adaptive means (alcohol, drugs, and addictions such as 'over-thinking'). If you fall into that category, it is completely understandable and you are not alone. As you move forward as an empowered empath (as taught when you sign up for my free eCourse and newsletter), you can unlearn any maladaptive habits that you have accumulated.

 

As an empath, you have a gift, or in many cases, what may feel like a serious curse!  Perhaps you have had the experience of being bombarded with the frightening emotional rages of family members (trauma is associated with roughly 40 percent of empaths, and it may actually enhance energetic perception, being constantly aware of where the next threat may be).
Whatever your experience, being an empath can be challenging. It means that you are able to process energy for other people. You feeleverything, even if you are not aware of it. Being what some may erroneously call "hypersensitive" to the feelings of others is not a bad thing. It does not mean you are co-dependent. There is nothingwrong with you, although it may feel like there is. For better or worse, because of your diffuse energetic boundaries, you can feel, and in many cases, take on, the pain of others.

While this is almost always helpful to others; it can leave the empath severely drained, always running on empty. As you now awaken to your empathic gifts, if you are to thrive, you must have the courage to plant your feet firmly in the ground, and learn to say no. You are being asked to choose wisely. Just because you have this gift, does not mean you need to always use it. 

With the gift of empathy comes tremendous responsibility. Before we can move on to bigger things, such as helping others, we need to confront the challenge of really knowing, loving, embracing, and fully accepting ourselves as we are. Many of the clients who I coach in myEmpath Academy classes have energy blockages in the throat area, which is metaphysically tied to being able to express yourself fully in the world. When the lower vibratory energy from others accumulates in your body over time, you may feel constricted around the throat and you may lose the awareness of how to fully use your own voice. It is the rare empath who has not been challenged to keep this area flowing freely to express oneself in an authentic manner. If we can be more fully authentic and honest about who we really are, then we allow others can do the same. Instead of being overtaken by the energy of others, we will overtake them with our joy and expressive authenticity.

In my instruction package, The Complete Empath Toolkit, I discuss hundreds of effective ways that you can take care of yourself and maintain your energetic and emotional sanity. Applying the principles and working them into your daily routine may likely allow you be happy, joyful, and more prepared to face the demands of your daily life. And, in the Bigger Picture, that's really all that's being asked of us. May you continue to put one foot in front of the other with a smile on your face, no matter what the circumstances, one small baby step at a time! 

Medications Are Effective For Quitting Smoking

By Alexandra Sifferlin

FABPHOTO / GETTY IMAGES

It’s a good thing that there are cessation methods that work, according to a recent review of 267 studies involving 101,804 people published in the Cochrane Library. The study offers hope to people who want to kick the habit: it shows currently licensed medications are effective.In the U.S., 68.8% of current adult smokers want to quit for good, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since 2002, the number of former smokers exceeds the number of current smokers in the U.S., but there’s still work to be done, with one in every five U.S. deaths credited to tobacco.

Currently there are three medications in the U.S. and Europe that are licensed to help smokers quit. These include nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) like nicotine patches, gums and inhalers, the antidepressant drug bupropion and the drug varenicline. The goals of the medications are to curb the effects of nicotine in the brain.

Russia and other spots in Eastern Europe also have a widely used cessation drug called cytisine that is similar to the drug varenicline.

In the review, researchers looked at the success rates of the cessation medications compared to placebos. They defined success as an individual who stopped smoking for six months or more.

Based on the findings, all the drugs were successful at improving the odds for smokers who wanted to quit. Participants were 80% more likely to quit when using a single NRT or taking bupropion compared to those using a placebo. Those using varenicline as well as an NRT had two to three times greater odds.

Participants taking only varenicline had a 50% greater likelihood of successfully quitting compared to patients taking any NRT and experienced similar results to patients taking any combination of two NRTs. Although all the drugs are considered low-risk, the researchers say more safety information would be valuable for varenicline.

(MORE: Exercise Helps Young Smokers Quit)

“This review provides strong evidence that the three main treatments, nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion and varenicline, can all help people to stop smoking,” said lead researcher Kate Cahill of the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford in a statement. “Although cytisine is not currently licensed for smoking cessation in most of the world, these data suggest it has potential as an effective and affordable therapy.”

The review is encouraging for anyone trying to quit. Even though smoking cessation can be extremely difficult, studies show quitting can extend lives by up to 10 years. Other non-medication methods have also been found to help smokers stay on track to quit for good. For more information on the effects of smoking and how to quit, visit the CDC’s Tips From Former Smokers page here.

USSR's Old Domain Name Attracts Cybercriminals

USSR's Old Domain Name Attracts Cybercriminals

LISTED UNDER:RAPHAEL SATTER, Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet Union disappeared from the map more than two d Employees of Moscow’s Group-IB, which is responsible for one of Russia’s two official Internet watchdogs, work in their laboratory in Moscow, Russia on Thursday, May 30, 2013. Figures supplied by Group-IB suggest that the number of malicious websites hosted across the Soviet Union’s old domain doubled in 2011 and doubled again in 2012, surpassing even the vast number of renegade sites on .ru and its newer Cyrillic-language counterpart. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)ecades ago. But online an 'e-vil empire' is thriving.

Security experts say the .su Internet suffix assigned to the USSR in 1990 has turned into a haven for hackers who've flocked to the defunct superpower's domain space to send spam and steal money.

Capitalist concerns, rather than Communist nostalgia, explain the move.

"I don't think that this is really a political thing," Oren David, a manager at security firm RSA's anti-fraud unit, said in a recent telephone interview. David noted that other obscure areas of the Internet, such as the .tk domain associated with the South Pacific territory of Tokelau, have been used by opportunistic hackers.

"It's all about business," he said.

David and others say scammers began to move to .su after the administrators of Russia's .ru space toughened their rules back in late 2011.

Group-IB, which runs one of Russia's two official Internet watchdogs, says that the number of malicious websites hosted across the Soviet Union's old domain doubled in 2011 and doubled again in 2012, surpassing even the vast number of renegade sites on .ru and its newer Cyrillic-language counterpart.

The Soviet domain has "lots of problems," Group-IB's Andrei Komarov said in a phone interview. "In my opinion more than half of cybercriminals in Russia and former USSR use it."

The most notorious site was Exposed.su, which purportedly published credit records belonging to President Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, Republican presidential challengers Mitt Romney and Donald Trump, and celebrities including Britney Spears, Jay Z, Beyonce and Tiger Woods. The site is now defunct.

Other Soviet sites are used to control botnets — the name given to the networks of hijacked computers used by criminals to empty bank accounts, crank out spam, or launch attacks against rival websites.

Internet hosting companies generally eliminate such sites as soon as they're identified. But Swiss security researcher Roman Huessy, whose abuse.ch blog tracks botnet control sites, said hackers based in Soviet cyberspace can operate with impunity for months at a time.

Asked for examples, he rattled off a series of sites actively involved in ransacking bank accounts or holding hard drives hostage in return for ransom — brazenly working in the online equivalent of broad daylight.

"I can continue posting this list for ages," he said via Skype.

The history of .su goes back to the early days of the Internet, when its architects were creating the universe of country code suffixes meant to mark out a website's nationality. Each code — like .fr for France or .ca for Canada — was meant to correspond to a country.

Some Cold War-era domain names — such as .yu for Yugoslavia or .dd for East Germany — evaporated after the countries behind them disappeared. But the .su domain survived the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the creation of a .ru domain in 1994, resisting repeated attempts to wipe it from the Web because, unlike other defunct domains, those behind .su refused to pull the plug — on both commercial and patriotic grounds.

With more than 120,000 domains currently registered, mothballing .su now would be a messy operation.

"It's like blocking .com or .org," said Komarov. "Lots of legitimate domains are registered there."

Among them are stalin.su, which eulogizes the Soviet dictator and the English-language chronicle.su, an absurdist parody site.

But experts say many are fraudulent, and even the organization behind .su accepts it has a problem on its hands.

"We realize it's a threat for our image," said Sergei Ovcharenko, whose Moscow-based nonprofitFoundation for Internet Development took responsibility for .su in 2007.

Ovcharenko insisted that only a small number of .su sites are malicious, although he acknowledged that criminal sites can stay online for extremely long periods of time.

He said his hands were tied by weak Russian legislation and outdated terms of service. But he promised that stricter rules are on their way after months of legal leg work.

"We are almost there," he said. "This summer, we'll be rolling out our new policy."

Meanwhile .su has become an increasingly notorious corner of the Internet, an online echo of the evil empire moniker assigned to the Soviet Union by U.S. President Ronald Reagan 30 years ago.

David, the RSA manager, said the emergence of a Communist relic as a 21st century security threat was a bizarre blast from the past.

"I thought that the Berlin Wall and my grandma's borscht are the only remnants of the Soviet Union," he said. "I was wrong.
"

Teens with Social Anxiety Engage in Earlier Alcohol, Marijuana Use

TRACI PEDERSEN

Among teens with substance use disorders, those who also have socialanxiety disorder begin using marijuana at a mean age of 10.6 years — an average of 2.2 years earlier than teens without anxiety, according to a study conducted at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

“This finding surprised us,” said principal investigator Alexandra Wang, a third-year medical student at the university. “It shows we need to start earlier with prevention of drug and alcohol use and treatment of social phobia [in children].”

The study involved 195 teens (102 girls, 52 percent), aged 14 to 18 years, who met the current diagnosis of substance use disorder and had received medical detoxification if needed.

Researchers assessed the teens’ history of drug and alcohol use and looked into whether they’d had any of three anxiety disorders: social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.

Marijuana was the most popular drug of choice.  Of the 195 participants, 92 percent had marijuana dependence, starting at a mean age of 13 years; 61 percent were alcohol-dependent, having started drinking at 13.5 years on average.

Teens with either social anxiety disorder or panic disorder were far more likely to have marijuana dependence, Wang said. Both of these disorders were more likely to occur before marijuana dependence.

Approximately 80 percent of teens with social anxiety disorder and 85 percent with panic disorder had symptoms of that disorder before the onset of their substance abuse.  Furthermore, panic disorder tended to start before alcohol dependence and occurred in 75 percent of alcohol-dependent adolescents.

There was no clear evidence showing whether agoraphobia came before or after either marijuana use or the first drink, according to the authors.

A limitation of the study, according to the research team, was that 128 (66 percent) of the teens were juvenile offenders who had received court-referred treatment for their substance abuse. These findings might not generalize to a less severely addicted population.

Still, interventions to reduce social anxiety might help prevent substance abuse in teens.

“We need to treat these young patients initially with nonpharmacologic means, such as cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness meditation,” said Christina Delos Reyes, M.D., a psychiatrist specializing in addictions at University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

Patrick Bordeaux, M.D., a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Quebec, Canada, said that “comorbidities tend to be the rule in adolescents, not the exception.”

“Adolescents are more likely to have social and mental disorders that make them more likely to use drugs,” said Bordeaux, who was not involved with the study.

Source:  Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Substance Use Tied to Overactive Brain Reward Areas

RICK NAUERT 

New research suggests overactivity of specific brain reward regions may cause an individual to have greater cravings for drugs.

Investigators from the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) used what they called a “reward surfeit model” to investigate if such heightened brain activity can cause individuals to develop food or drug addictions.

The results indicated that elevated responsivity of reward regions in the brain increased the risk for future substance use, which has never been tested before prospectively with humans.

However, results also provide evidence that even a limited history of substance use was related to less responsivity in the reward circuitry, as has been suggested by experiments with animals.

The research will appears in a future issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The research team of Eric Stice, Ph.D., used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test whether individual differences in reward region responsivity predicted overweight/obesity onset among initially healthy weight adolescents.

Researchers also used fMRI to determine if differences in reward center responsivity influcenced substance use onset among initially abstinent adolescents.

The neural response to food and monetary reward was measured in 162 adolescents. Body fat and substance use were assessed at the time of the fMRI and again one year later.

“The findings are important because this is the first test of whether atypical responsivity of reward circuitry increases risk for substance use,” Stice said.

“Although numerous researchers have suggested that reduced responsivity is a vulnerability factor for substance use, this theory was based entirely on cross-sectional studies comparing substance abusing individuals to healthy controls; no studies have tested this thesis with prospective data.”

Investigators first examined the extent to which reward circuitry was activated in response to receipt and anticipated receipt of money.

Monetary reward is a general reinforcer and has been used frequently to assess reward sensitivity.

The team also used another paradigm to assess brain activation in response to the individual’s consumption and anticipated consumption of a chocolate milkshake. Results showed that greater activation in the brain region called the striatum during monetary reward receipt at baseline predicted future substance use onset over a one-year follow-up.

Investigators discovered that adolescents who had already begun using substances showed less brain response to monetary reward. This finding provides the first evidence that even a relatively short period of moderate substance use might reduce reward region responsivity.

“The implications are that the more individuals use psychoactive substances, the less responsive they will be to rewarding experiences, meaning that they may derive less reinforcement from other pursuits, such as interpersonal relationships, hobbies, and school work,” Stice said. “This may contribute to the escalating spiral of drug use that characterizes substance use disorders.”

Researchers did not find a similar reward system response for food. Investigators say that it is possible that these effects are weaker and that a longer follow-up period will be necessary to better differentiate who will gain weight and who will remain at a healthy weight.

Source: Oregon Research Institute