Researchers identified a pathway in the male rat brain that psychedelics target. This pathway may explain how these drugs strengthen memories and alleviate psychiatric disease symptoms.

Vanderbilt’s Dr. Benjamin P. Brown is improving the way the field of drug discovery creates machine learning algorithms to predict a protein’s interactions with a small molecule. These improvements bring ML closer to fulfilling its potential in the field—something that has not been realized after more than a decade of work.

A new study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research reveals new patterns of tobacco use among Veterans compared to civilians: Veterans are more likely to use all commercial tobacco products—including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco. Veterans also had a higher risk for former and current tobacco use, as well as any combustible tobacco product use, and multiple product use. Almost 1 in 4 Veterans reported currently using tobacco and 19 percent currently use combustible tobacco products. Veterans are also more likely than civilians to use multiple tobacco products, which increases health risks. The study is the first analysis of tobacco use by Veteran status to consider product type since 2015.

The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded $3.7 million to Indiana University researchers to investigate the complex relationship between ADHD medications and serious substance use problems among vulnerable youth and young adults. The study aims to fill critical gaps in understanding how ADHD medications impact the risk of serious substance use problems by analyzing nationwide healthcare data of over 3.3 million young people (ages 9-29) enrolled in Medicaid who received an ADHD diagnosis.

A poll of older adults looks for signs of addiction to ultraprocessed foods and drinks, and finds especially high rates among those in their 50s and early 60s who were children and teens during the 1980s when the nation's food environment changed.

Research published by Duke University researchers has found a strong link between higher stress in children and adverse health conditions for them later in life. Appearing in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” the study used measurable metrics of health over time to create a more quantitative view of how stress early in life affects health.