-
The Psychiatric Clinics of North America Mar 2022Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related stressors and restrictions, in the absence of social and institutional support, have led many individuals to either increase... (Review)
Review
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related stressors and restrictions, in the absence of social and institutional support, have led many individuals to either increase their substance consumption or relapse. Consequently, treatment programs for substance use disorders (SUDs) made a transition from in-person to remote care delivery. This review discusses the following evidence regarding changes prompted by the COVID pandemic to the clinical care of individuals with SUDs: (1) reduction in availability of care, (2) increase in demand for care, (3) transition to telemedicine use, (4) telemedicine for treatment of opioid use disorders, and (5) considerations for use of telemedicine in treating SUDs.
Topics: COVID-19; Humans; Opioid-Related Disorders; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2; Substance-Related Disorders; Telemedicine
PubMed: 35219445
DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2021.11.006 -
International Journal of Molecular... Sep 2022Recent data show that young people, mainly due to the pressure of some risk factors or due to disrupted interpersonal relationships, utilise greater reward value and... (Review)
Review
Could Alcohol Abuse and Dependence on Junk Foods Inducing Obesity and/or Illicit Drug Use Represent Danger to Liver in Young People with Altered Psychological/Relational Spheres or Emotional Problems?
Recent data show that young people, mainly due to the pressure of some risk factors or due to disrupted interpersonal relationships, utilise greater reward value and display greater sensitivity to the reinforcing properties of "pleasurable stimuli", specifically in those situations in which an enhanced dopamine release is present. Alcoholic beverages, foods rich in sugar and fat, and illicit drug use are pleasurable feelings associated with rewards. Research shows that there is a link between substance abuse and obesity in brain functioning. Still, alcohol excess is central in leading to obesity and obesity-related morbidities, such as hepatic steatosis, mainly when associated with illicit drug dependence and negative eating behaviours in young people. It is ascertained that long-term drinking causes mental damage, similarly to drug abuse, but also affects liver function. Indeed, beyond the pharmacokinetic interactions of alcohol with drugs, occurring in the liver due to the same metabolic enzymes, there are also pharmacodynamic interactions of both substances in the CNS. To complicate matters, an important noxious effect of junk foods consists of inducing obesity and obesity-related NAFLD. In this review, we focus on some key mechanisms underlying the impact of these addictions on the liver, as well as those on the CNS.
Topics: Adolescent; Alcoholism; Dopamine; Humans; Illicit Drugs; Liver; Obesity; Substance-Related Disorders; Sugars
PubMed: 36142317
DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810406 -
BMC Genomics Mar 2024Drug addiction is a serious problem worldwide and is influenced by genetic factors. The present study aimed to investigate the association between genetics and drug...
BACKGROUND
Drug addiction is a serious problem worldwide and is influenced by genetic factors. The present study aimed to investigate the association between genetics and drug addiction among Han Chinese.
METHODS
A total of 1000 Chinese users of illicit drugs and 9693 healthy controls were enrolled and underwent single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based and haplotype-based association analyses via whole-genome genotyping.
RESULTS
Both single-SNP and haplotype tests revealed associations between illicit drug use and several immune-related genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region (SNP association: logBF = 15.135, p = 1.054e-18; haplotype association: logBF = 20.925, p = 2.065e-24). These genes may affect the risk of drug addiction via modulation of the neuroimmune system. The single-SNP test exclusively reported genome-wide significant associations between rs3782886 (SNP association: logBF = 8.726, p = 4.842e-11) in BRAP and rs671 (SNP association: logBF = 7.406, p = 9.333e-10) in ALDH2 and drug addiction. The haplotype test exclusively reported a genome-wide significant association (haplotype association: logBF = 7.607, p = 3.342e-11) between a region with allelic heterogeneity on chromosome 22 and drug addiction, which may be involved in the pathway of vitamin B12 transport and metabolism, indicating a causal link between lower vitamin B12 levels and methamphetamine addiction.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide new insights into risk-modeling and the prevention and treatment of methamphetamine and heroin dependence, which may further contribute to potential novel therapeutic approaches.
Topics: Humans; Genome-Wide Association Study; Haplotypes; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Substance-Related Disorders; Methamphetamine; Vitamin B 12; China; Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial
PubMed: 38448893
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10117-4 -
Translational Psychiatry Sep 2022The debate surrounding the brain disease model and the associated questioning of the relevance of animal models is polarizing the field of addiction, and tends to widen... (Review)
Review
The debate surrounding the brain disease model and the associated questioning of the relevance of animal models is polarizing the field of addiction, and tends to widen the gap between preclinical research and addiction medicine. Here, we aimed at bridging this gap by establishing a dialog between a preclinical researcher and a clinician in addiction medicine. Our objective was to evaluate animal models and the neuroscientific conceptualization of addiction in light of alcohol or drug dependence and treatment in patients struggling with an addiction. We sought to determine how preclinical research influenced addiction medicine over past decades, and reciprocally, what can preclinical researchers learn from addiction medicine that could lead to more effective approaches. In this dialog, we talk about the co-evolution of addiction concepts and treatments from neuroscientific and medical perspectives. This dialog illustrates the reciprocal influences and mutual enrichment between the two disciplines and reveals that, although preclinical research might not produce new pharmacotherapies, it does shape the theoretical conceptualization of addiction and could thereby contribute to the implementation of therapeutic approaches.
Topics: Addiction Medicine; Animals; Behavior, Addictive; Ethanol; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 36130939
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02177-5 -
International Journal of Molecular... Nov 2021Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) is a 17-residue neuropeptide that binds the nociceptin opioid-like receptor (NOP). N/OFQ exhibits nucleotidic and aminoacidics sequence... (Review)
Review
Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) is a 17-residue neuropeptide that binds the nociceptin opioid-like receptor (NOP). N/OFQ exhibits nucleotidic and aminoacidics sequence homology with the precursors of other opioid neuropeptides but it does not activate either MOP, KOP or DOP receptors. Furthermore, opioid neuropeptides do not activate the NOP receptor. Generally, activation of N/OFQ system exerts anti-opioids effects, for instance toward opioid-induced reward and analgesia. The NOP receptor is widely expressed throughout the brain, whereas N/OFQ localization is confined to brain nuclei that are involved in stress response such as amygdala, BNST and hypothalamus. Decades of studies have delineated the biological role of this system demonstrating its involvement in significant physiological processes such as pain, learning and memory, anxiety, depression, feeding, drug and alcohol dependence. This review discusses the role of this peptidergic system in the modulation of stress and stress-associated psychiatric disorders in particular drug addiction, mood, anxiety and food-related associated-disorders. Emerging preclinical evidence suggests that both NOP agonists and antagonists may represent a effective therapeutic approaches for substances use disorder. Moreover, the current literature suggests that NOP antagonists can be useful to treat depression and feeding-related diseases, such as obesity and binge eating behavior, whereas the activation of NOP receptor by agonists could be a promising tool for anxiety.
Topics: Animals; Anxiety Disorders; Brain; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Humans; Models, Neurological; Mood Disorders; Opioid Peptides; Receptors, Opioid; Reward; Stress, Physiological; Substance-Related Disorders; Nociceptin Receptor; Nociceptin
PubMed: 34884757
DOI: 10.3390/ijms222312956 -
BMJ Open May 2023Despite cultural, religious and legal constraints, alcohol and drug abuse is rising in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, we aim to produce a scoping review to...
INTRODUCTION
Despite cultural, religious and legal constraints, alcohol and drug abuse is rising in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, we aim to produce a scoping review to summarise available scientific literature on alcohol and substance dependence (ASD) in all ethnic and religious groups in the UAE to inform future scientific inquiries.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS
Social work faculty from the UAE University will conduct the scoping review between March 2023 and February 2024. Drawing on the participants, concept, context (PCC) framework, the following review question was developed: What can be learnt from a review of scientific literature on alcohol and substance abuse in all ethnic and religious groups in the UAE? The scientific literature on ASD in the UAE published between 1971 and January 2023, in either English or Arabic, will be considered, including all ethnic, religious and age groups. Grey literature, such as postgraduate dissertations and conference proceedings, will also be considered. Eight English and two Arabic databases and print copies of literature sources in university libraries will be included. EndNote and Covidence software will be used for deduplication, screening and data extraction. Screening and reviewing search results will involve two English-speaking and two Arabic-speaking team members who will work independently. A third reviewer will resolve conflicts. The inter-rater reliability data from the title and abstract screening stage will be exported, and Cohen's kappa coefficient will be calculated. Data charting informed by the Covidence data extraction tool 2.0 will occur after pilot testing, followed by qualitative content analysis. Reporting of the findings will align with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews tool.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION
Ethical approval is not required for this study because this is a scoping review of published studies and grey literature. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed journal publications, scientific conferences and a policy brief.
Topics: Humans; Alcoholism; Ethanol; Reproducibility of Results; Review Literature as Topic; Substance-Related Disorders; United Arab Emirates
PubMed: 37160389
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071208 -
Brain, Behavior and Evolution 2020Drug dependence has long been thought to have a genetic component. Research seeking to identify the genetic basis of addiction has gone through important transitions... (Review)
Review
Drug dependence has long been thought to have a genetic component. Research seeking to identify the genetic basis of addiction has gone through important transitions over its history, in part based upon the emergence of new technologies, but also as the result of changing perspectives. Early research approaches were largely dictated by available technology, with technological advancements having highly transformative effects on genetic research, but the limitations of technology also affected modes of thinking about the genetic causes of disease. This review explores these transitions in thinking about the genetic causes of addiction in terms of the "streetlight effect," which is a type of observational bias whereby people search for something only where it is easiest to search. In this way, the genes that were initially studied in the field of addiction genetics were chosen because they were the most "obvious," and formed current understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the actions of drugs of abuse and drug dependence. The problem with this emphasis is that prior to the genomic era the vast majority of genes and proteins had yet to be identified, much less studied. This review considers how these initial choices, as well as subsequent choices that were also driven by technological limitations, shaped the study of the genetic basis of drug dependence. While genome-wide approaches overcame the initial biases regarding which genes to choose to study inherent in candidate gene studies and other approaches, genome-wide approaches necessitated other assumptions. These included additive genetic causation and limited allelic heterogeneity, which both appear to be incorrect. Thus, the next stage of advancement in this field must overcome these shortcomings through approaches that allow the examination of complex interactive effects, both gene × gene and gene × environment interactions. Techniques for these sorts of studies have recently been developed and represent the next step in our understanding of the genetic basis of drug dependence.
Topics: Animals; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genome-Wide Association Study; Humans; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 33849024
DOI: 10.1159/000516169 -
Journal of Addiction MedicineAmidst the ongoing opioid crisis, the number of individuals with substance use disorders being hospitalized for acute medical illnesses has increased. There is now a...
Amidst the ongoing opioid crisis, the number of individuals with substance use disorders being hospitalized for acute medical illnesses has increased. There is now a growing recognition that these events may be psychologically traumatic, leading to the development of acute stress reactions, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients who use drugs may be particularly susceptible to being traumatized due to their underlying psychiatric comorbidities, prior trauma histories, inadequate treatment of the underlying substance use disorders, and stigmatization. Interventions such as early identification and screening, trauma-informed care, and specialized addiction services may help to mitigate the risks of trauma amongst this population. More research is needed to better guide hospitals to ensure people who use drugs receive optimal care.
Topics: Comorbidity; Hospitalization; Humans; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 33758115
DOI: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000840 -
Computational and Mathematical Methods... 2020Drug abuse poses great physical and psychological harm to humans, thereby attracting scholarly attention. It often requires experience and time for a researcher, just...
Drug abuse poses great physical and psychological harm to humans, thereby attracting scholarly attention. It often requires experience and time for a researcher, just entering this field, to find an appropriate method to study drug abuse issue. It is crucial for researchers to rapidly understand the existing research on a particular topic and be able to propose an effective new research method. Text mining analysis has been widely applied in recent years, and this study integrated the text mining method into a review of drug abuse research. Through searches for keywords related to the drug abuse, all related publications were identified and downloaded from PubMed. After removing the duplicate and incomplete literature, the retained data were imported for analysis through text mining. A total of 19,843 papers were analyzed, and the text mining technique was used to search for keyword and questionnaire types. The results showed the associations between these questionnaires, with the top five being the Addiction Severity Index (16.44%), the Quality of Life survey (5.01%), the Beck Depression Inventory (3.24%), the Addiction Research Center Inventory (2.81%), and the Profile of Mood States (1.10%). Specifically, the Addiction Severity Index was most commonly used in combination with Quality of Life scales. In conclusion, association analysis is useful to extract core knowledge. Researchers can learn and visualize the latest research trend.
Topics: Classification; Data Mining; Humans; PubMed; Quality of Life; Research Design; Substance-Related Disorders; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 32076454
DOI: 10.1155/2020/1030815 -
Therapie 2020Addictovigilance is a safety monitoring targeted at substances with potential for abuse and dependence. This vigilance was involved during the period of COVID-19... (Review)
Review
Addictovigilance is a safety monitoring targeted at substances with potential for abuse and dependence. This vigilance was involved during the period of COVID-19 epidemic due to the significant changes in access to drugs and psychological disruption caused by the pandemic and lockdown. This article aims to present the different steps implemented by the French Addictovigilance network in collaboration with the French Health authorities from March to May 2020, including monitoring of potential harmful events, and scientific communication. The first events were identified through the continuity of the networking between the French addictovigilance centres and their partners: community pharmacies, general practitioners, specialized structures and emergency wards. As soon as the lockdown began, first cases of overdoses (lethal or not) were reported with opioids, mainly with methadone, and other opioids (heroin, oxycodone, tramadol or antitussive codeine). Lockdown-related noteworthy events consisted in clinical cases or other relevant information for which lockdown clearly played an important role: among the many substances identified at least once, pregabalin, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine and nitrous oxide were the most significant in terms of prevalence, seriousness or particularly specific to the lockdown context. Despite significant decrease in the activity and travel limited to vital needs, community pharmacies continued to identify falsified prescriptions in this period, highlighting an increase in suspicious requests for pregabalin, codeine and tramadol. In parallel, the French addictovigilance network continued its communications efforts in the period, issuing a newsletter on tramadol, a press release on methadone and naloxone, and participating in the COVID-19 frequently asked questions (FAQs) of the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutic website (https://sfpt-fr.org/covid19). COVID-19 epidemic has been an important challenge for addictovigilance, and has proved that this monitoring is highly essential for alerting health professionals and health authorities to points of vigilance in the field of psychoactive substances.
Topics: COVID-19; Community Pharmacy Services; Coronavirus Infections; Drug Overdose; France; General Practitioners; Health Personnel; Humans; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Quarantine; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 32660776
DOI: 10.1016/j.therap.2020.06.006