Impact of Family History in Persons With Dual Diagnosis.
Impact of Family History in Persons With Dual Diagnosis.
J Dual Diagn. 2013 Feb 13; 9(1): 30-38
Wilson CS, Bennett ME, Bellack AS
This study examined relationships among family history of alcohol, drug, and psychiatric problems and substance use severity, interpersonal relationships, and service use in individuals with dual diagnosis.Data were collected with the family history section of the Addiction Severity Index administered as part of three studies of individuals with dual disorders (N=413). Participants were categorized into family history risk groups for each problem domain based on the number of first and second degree relatives with alcohol, drug, or psychiatric problems.Rates of alcohol, drug, and psychiatric problems were high across family member categories and highest overall for siblings. Over two-thirds of the sample was categorized in the high-risk group in the alcohol problem domain, almost half of the sample was categorized as high-risk in the drug problem domain, and over a third of the sample was categorized as high-risk in the psychiatric problem domain. Across problem domains, individuals in the high-risk group reported more relationship problems with parents and siblings and higher rates of lifetime emotional, physical, and sexual abuse than did those in the low or moderate-risk groups.Family history of alcohol, drug, and psychiatric problems is associated with greater rates of poor family relationships and history of abuse. Assessment of these different forms of family history in multiple family members can aid treatment providers in identifying individuals with dual disorders who may benefit from trauma-informed care as part of their overall mental health and substance abuse treatment services. HubMed – addiction
Chronic morphine exposure and its abstinence alters dendritic spine morphology and upregulates Shank1.
Neurochem Int. 2013 Mar 25;
Pal A, Das S
Exposure to chronic drugs of abuse has been reported to produce significant changes in postsynaptic protein profile, dendritic spine morphology and synaptic transmission. In the present study we demonstrate alterations in dendritic spine morphology in the frontal cortex and nucleus accumbens of mice following chronic morphine treatment as well as during abstinence for two months. Such alterations were accompanied with significant upregulation of the postsynaptic protein Shank1 in synaptosomal enriched fractions. mRNA levels of Shank1 was also markedly increased during morphine treatment and during withdrawal. Studies of the different postsynaptic proteins at the protein and mRNA levels showed significant alterations in the morphine treated groups compared to that of saline treated controls. Taken together, these observations suggest that Shank1 may have an important role in the regulation of spine morphology induced by chronic morphine leading to addiction. HubMed – addiction
Deep brain stimulation for addiction: why the subthalamic nucleus should be favored.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013 Mar 25;
Pelloux Y, Baunez C
Surgical treatment for psychiatric disorders has been revitalized for the past ten years after deep brain stimulation (DBS) had shown its efficacy for the treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. In the field of psychiatric disorders, DBS has been first used for obsessive compulsive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Only recently it has been proposed for the treatment of addiction. Whatever the disease, the selected target is a constant question. In this review, we present theoretical, empirical and technical arguments in favor of targeting the subthalamic nucleus as the best candidate over other areas for DBS in the treatment of drug addiction. HubMed – addiction
The CRISPR System-Keeping Zebrafish Gene Targeting Fresh.
Zebrafish. 2013 Mar 28;
Blackburn PR, Campbell JM, Clark KJ, Ekker SC
Abstract We are entering a new era in our ability to modify and edit the genomes of model organisms. Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) opened the door to the first custom nuclease-targeted genome engineering in the late 1990s. However, ZFNs remained out of reach for most research labs because of the difficulty of production, high costs, and modest efficacy in many applications. Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) were built upon a DNA binding system discovered in a group of plant bacterial pathogens and broadened custom nuclease technology, showing significant improvements in both targeting flexibility and efficiency. Perhaps most importantly, TALENs are open source and easy to produce, providing zebrafish laboratories around the world with affordable tools that can be made in-house rapidly, at low cost, and with reliably high activity. Now a new system for targeted genome engineering derived from the CRISPR/Cas system in eubacteria and archaea promises to simplify this process further. Together, these tools will help overcome many of the bottlenecks that have constrained gene targeting in zebrafish, paving the way for advanced genome engineering applications in this model teleost. HubMed – addiction