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Only about one in five people with bladder cancer are aware that smoking is a risk factor for the disease, suggesting that doctors need to focus on telling patients more about the risks of tobacco use, researchers say.

A state-by-state comparison by a Wisconsin newspaper concluded that the Badger State is the most deeply affected by alcohol use in the U.S.

Polydrug abuse -- not use of individual drugs -- causes most fatal overdoses in Florida, contrary to what some media reports and state health officials say, according to an analysis published in Slate.

A new health Canada poll finds that 57 percent of smokers said that they are not affected by graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, compared to 52 percent five years earlier.

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars are increasingly turning to alcohol when they return home to cope with the lingering stress of their combat experiences, sometimes with tragic consequences.

After many years of heavy drinking, alcohol produces pathological alterations in the brain. In many alcoholics these changes culminate in massive social deterioration and disorders of memory and learning. Severe cognitive impairments occur in approximately 10% of heavy drinkers. Alcoholic dementia is the second leading course of adult dementia in the Western countries, accounting for 10% of the cases, and still represents an unresolved problem.

A particular gene variant might make women more susceptible to alcoholism. At least, a study carried out by the Universities of Bonn and Sweden's Karolinska Institute makes this a plausible conclusion. According to this, a gene in the endorphin metabolism is altered in a typical fashion more often in women alcoholics than in healthy women. In mice too, endorphins seem to play an important role in the amount of alcohol consumed, particularly among females.

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

American Journal of Public Health