Defining a Service for People Who Use Drugs as ‘low-threshold’: What Should Be the Criteria?

Defining a service for people who use drugs as ‘low-threshold’: What should be the criteria?

Int J Drug Policy. 2013 Apr 5;
Mofizul Islam M, Topp L, Conigrave KM, Day CA

HubMed – addiction

 

Case-control association study of WLS variants in opioid and cocaine addicted populations.

Psychiatry Res. 2013 Apr 5;
Crist RC, Ambrose-Lanci LM, Zeng A, Yuan C, Kampman KM, Pettinati HM, Oslin DW, O’Brien CP, Ferraro TN, Doyle GA, Lohoff FW, Berrettini WH

The opioid receptor family is involved in the development and maintenance of drug addiction. The mu-opioid receptor (MOR) mediates the rewarding effects of multiple drugs, including opiates and cocaine. A number of proteins interact with MOR, potentially modulating MOR function and altering the physiological consequences of drug use. These mu-opioid receptor interacting proteins (MORIPs) are potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of addiction. The Wntless (WLS) protein was recently identified as a MORIP in a yeast two-hybrid screen. In this study, we conducted a case-control association analysis of 16 WLS genetic variants in opioid and cocaine addicted individuals of both African-American (opioid n=336, cocaine n=908) and European-American (opioid n=335, cocaine n=336) ancestry. Of the analyzed SNPs, three were nominally associated with opioid addiction and four were nominally associated with cocaine addiction. None of these associations were significant following multiple testing correction. These data suggest that the common variants of WLS analyzed in this study are not associated with opioid or cocaine addiction. However, this study does not exclude the possibilities that rare variants in WLS may affect susceptibility to drug addiction, or that common variants with small effect size may fall below the detection level of our analysis. HubMed – addiction

 

Differences in brain responses between lean and obese women to a sweetened drink.

Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2013 Apr 9;
Connolly L, Coveleskie K, Kilpatrick LA, Labus JS, Ebrat B, Stains J, Jiang Z, Tillisch K, Raybould HE, Mayer EA

BACKGROUND: Ingestion of sweet food is driven by central reward circuits and restrained by endocrine and neurocrine satiety signals. The specific influence of sucrose intake on central affective and reward circuitry and alterations of these mechanisms in the obese are incompletely understood. For this, we hypothesized that (i) similar brain regions are engaged by the stimulation of sweet taste receptors by sucrose and by non-nutrient sweeteners and (ii) during visual food-related cues, obese subjects show greater brain responses to sucrose compared with lean controls. METHODS: In a double-blind, crossover design, 10 obese and 10 lean healthy females received a sucrose or a non-nutrient sweetened beverage prior to viewing food or neutral images. BOLD signal was measured using a 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner. KEY RESULTS: Viewing food images after ingestion of either drink was associated with engagement of similar brain regions (amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, anterior insula). Obese differed from lean subjects in behavioral and brain responses rating both beverages as less tasteful and satisfying, yet demonstrating greater brain responses. Obese subjects also showed engagement of an additional brain network (including anterior insula, anterior cingulate, hippocampus, and amygdala) only after sucrose ingestion. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: Obese subjects had a reduced behavioral hedonic response, yet a greater engagement of affective brain networks, particularly after sucrose ingestion, suggesting that in obese subjects, lingual and gut-derived signaling generate less central hedonic effects than food-related memories in response to visual cues, analogous to response patterns implicated in food addiction. HubMed – addiction

 

Emergency room psychiatric services: a qualitative study of nurses’ experiences.

Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2013 Apr; 34(4): 240-8
Plant LD, White JH

Emergency nurses working in general emergency divisions (EDs) are primarily trained to assess and treat acute physical problems. However, ED nurses often care for psychiatric patients and the perceptions of nurses in EDs regarding their experiences with psychiatric patients have not been well-studied. Using focus groups, the purpose of this study was to explore and describe ED nurses’ experiences, and feelings caring for patients with mental illness. Krueger and Casey’s qualitative analysis for focus groups was utilized to code and categorize phrases and identify themes from transcribed interviews. Four themes emerged; powerlessness best captured the overarching and substantive experience of the participants. Based on the findings, implications for emergency room care of psychiatric patients are described. HubMed – addiction

 

Conversation with Connie Weisner.

Addiction. 2013 Apr 9;

HubMed – addiction