| Addiction genes can be tracked
NEW DELHI: Chinese scientists have devised a novel technique to identify genes and other biological pathways associated with drug addiction.
Their work attains significance as it may pave the way for potential ways to treat drug abuse and disorders.
"We have found 396 addiction-related genes and identified five pathways that are common to addiction to four different substances: cocaine, opium, nicotine and alcohol," the China Daily quoted Wei Liping, the director of the centre for bioinformatics of the life science college under Peking University, as saying.
"The research provides a more complete picture of drug addiction, as genetic factors contribute to about 60 per cent of the vulnerability to drug addiction," she said.
She said that tracking common pathways gives the hope that the effectiveness of therapies that target such pathways may be boosted to treat a wide range of addictive disorders.
AMY WINEHOUSE - FATHER FEARS FOR NEWLY-WED WINEHOUSE'S HEALTH
The father of singer AMY WINEHOUSE fears for his daughter's health now more than ever, following the troubled star's marriage to BLAKE FIELDER-CIVIL. Mitch Winehouse believes the Rehab hitmaker's troubles really started following her shock wedding to Fielder-Civil last May (07). He tells British chat show This Morning, "It's apparent in her music that she's smoked dope for quite a while, probably from the age of 16 or 17, perhaps even earlier. "She was a complete opponent of hard drugs - in fact, she got up and said she couldn't understand why people in the music industry took hard drugs and that changed about six months ago when she got married to Blake. "And I'm not saying it's Blake's fault, what I'm saying is Amy's responsible for her own actions. However, it's a fact that the hard drugs coincided with their marriage." Mitch Winehouse said his daughter has cut down on her drinking in the past year but is still battling bulimia and drug addiction.
Luger puts famous face on addiction
America's addiction to performance enhancement is one of the big stories coming out of 2007. And nowhere is that reflection greater than in professional sports. The Barry Bonds debate, the George Mitchell opus, athletes shooting up with steroids and human growth hormone — the epidemic continues to sweep through American sports, and it's unlikely that congressional hearings or all the hand-wringing in the world will change that fact. Sadly, as long as pro sports turn huge profits, it'll be business as usual. The fact that major league baseball and professional wrestling are rife with juiceheads is hardly a revelation. The drug infestation started long before Bonds began belting 450-foot blasts and Hulk Hogan became a colossus of the mat. And, like major league baseball, pro wrestling has not done a very good job of policing itself.
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