Understanding The Methamphetamine Epidemic And Its Implications For Service Provision And Harm Reduction: The VicMeth Cohort
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,270,774.00
Summary
The Victorian methamphetamine epidemic has received extensive media coverage highlighting the devastating impact of the drug and resultant public concern. We will follow up a cohort of 800 methamphetamine smokers from metropolitan and regional Victoria bi-annually for a period of 5 years to determine the natural history of methamphetamine use to inform optimal intervention strategies and arrest the increases in harm observed in Victoria recently.
Brain Circuits Promoting Abstinence And Preventing Relapse To Alcohol Seeking
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$591,995.00
Summary
This project maps and manipulates the brain circuits that promote abstinence from alcohol use. It uses new techniques from neuroscience to control the activity of specific cell types in discrete brain circuits. In this way we can alter the activity of these circuits to build on the normal neural restorative processes that occur during abstinence from alcohol use to reduce, and possibly prevent, relapse.
Determining Patterns Of Cessation And Relapse In A Cohort Of People Who Inject Drugs
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,189,791.00
Summary
Harms related to injecting drug use represent the bulk of the burden attributable to illicit drugs in Australia. In this study we will determine rates of long term cessation of injecting drug use, and relapse, and key drivers of these outcomes such as drug treatment or housing provision. Findings will inform policy and practice around injecting drug use in Australia over the coming decade.
The Pharmacology And Toxicity Of Synthetic Cannabinoids
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$744,808.00
Summary
Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) have been recently linked to many deaths and hospitalizations but there is limited data available that addresses these issues. We have identified SCs which display unprecedented cannabinoid receptor function, unusual selectivity, and SCs with high activity at cannabinoid receptors. This project will define the role of CB receptors in the actions of SCs, and provide an evidence-based rationale for treating SC overdoses.
?4-containing GABA-A Receptors As Targets For ?-hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$610,572.00
Summary
?-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is an elusive substance. On one hand, it is a prescribed drug to treat narcolepsy, and ameliorate alcohol withdrawal. On the other hand, GHB is the club drug “Fantasy” or “Liquid Ecstasy”, taken by many Australians for its social, sexual and euphoric effects. This proposal will identify GHB targets and provide insight to its mechanism of action.
A Prospective Cohort Study Of Ex-prisoners With A History Of Injecting Drug Use
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$956,020.00
Summary
Australia’s growing prison population is characterised by high rates of drug use, blood borne virus infection and poor physical and mental health. People with an injecting drug use history will undertake interviews prior to prison release, with periodic follow-up interviews for two years post-release. Interview data will be linked to corrections and community health data to explore relationships between, incarceration, health service utilisation, health outcomes, drug use and recidivism.
SRY: A Risk Factor For Parkinson’s Disease In Men?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$514,015.00
Summary
Parkinson’s disease is a debilitating neurological disorder that affects over 70,000 Australians. This project will test the novel concept that the male sex-determination gene SRY is a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease in men. A potential implication of the work is that it will help explain why men are more susceptible to Parkinson’s disease than women, and may also provide avenues for the development of novel therapeutics for this condition.
Characterising Neurobiological Abnormalities In Cannabis Use Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$731,571.00
Summary
Severe Cannabis Use Disorders cause significant harms to quality of life and outcomes including mental health, cognition, motivation and general well being. We will characterise, for the first time, the neuroadaptations associated with cannabis dependence relative to regular use via advanced imaging techniques and examine links between neural alterations and quality of life. This study will help to identify new treatment targets and develop a new neural model of cannabis addiction.
Health Outcomes And Service Utilisation In A Cohort Of People Who Inject Drugs, Sex Workers And At-risk Youth - A Record Linkage Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$458,333.00
Summary
People who inject drugs and sex workers endure poorer health and a disproportionate burden of disease than the general population. Improving health in these marginalised populations remains a challenge. To identify demographic, behavioural and clinical factors that predict health outcomes we will undertake a retrospective record linkage study in a cohort of 40000 primary care clinic attendees from a socially disadvantaged urban population with high prevalence of injecting drug use and sex work.
Does Obesity Have The Characteristics Of Addiction?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$430,832.00
Summary
The number of overweight or obese people in Australia has increased dramatically in recent years, increasing disease risk. The brain responds to palatable food in ways similar to the response to drugs of addiction, and this may explain why people find it hard to resist palatable food. Our work will explore whether obesity in rats has the characteristics of addiction by examining bingeing, craving, withdrawal and brain circuits in animals chronically exposed to palatable food.