Cannabis users often say the drug helps them blunt stressful memories. A 2026 randomized trial of 36 healthy adults tested low-dose oral THC against placebo during retrieval of a standardized lab stressor, and on every subjective and physiological measure that mattered, THC did nothing.1 Research Highlights 36-adult, 3-arm RCT: participants got placebo, 5 mg oral …
A 2026 preclinical study found that 25C-NBF, a selective 5-HT2A psychedelic phenethylamine, increased plasticity-related markers and produced rapid antidepressant-like effects in male rodents, while showing no detected reward or reinforcement signal in the models tested. Research Highlights 25C-NBF was preclinical: Nadal-Gratacos et al. tested cells, male mice, and male rats, not patients with depression.1 5-HT2A …
A 2026 cross-sectional school study involving 1,848 rural Thai teenagers found that 17.6% reported a tendency to use e-cigarettes, even though Thailand bans e-cigarette sale and importation.1 The strongest adjusted correlate was having ever considered smoking cigarettes: those teenagers had 6.71 times the odds of e-cigarette use tendency compared with teenagers who had never considered …
A double-blind placebo-controlled trial found no evidence that ebselen reduced impulsivity in 130 healthy adults: 66 received ebselen, 64 received placebo, and the 1,800 mg 2-day regimen did not improve motor impulsivity, reflection impulsivity, or delay discounting.1 The more interesting calibration is that several trait-impulsivity interactions ran opposite the secondary prediction, weakening the idea that …
A 2026 laboratory study found no detectable acute-pain increase in frequent cannabis users after at least 12 hours of biochemically verified abstinence. Frequent users had higher THC exposure and higher plasma cannabinoid markers, but pain threshold, pain tolerance, and pain ratings did not differ from occasional users.1 Research Highlights 75 healthy adults were tested: Pabon …
A 2026 review in Purinergic Signalling argues that P2X7 receptors are one of the clearest molecular bridges between stress, ATP danger signaling, microglial inflammation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, reduced BDNF, and new antidepressant drug targets.1 Research Highlights P2X7 is the lead receptor: Mattova et al. reviewed 7 ATP-gated P2X receptor subunits, with P2X7 carrying the strongest …
A 2026 medRxiv preprint using parent-cocreated sensory-related outcome measures found that 83% of children and teens improved on at least 1 PROMIS domain during 6 months of bumetanide treatment.1 The result is interesting, but the unmasked single-case design means the strongest claim is about sensitive outcome tracking, not definitive bumetanide efficacy. Research Highlights Most participants …