Signs characteristic of opiate withdrawal symptoms can be precipitated by an opiate antagonist after short-term infusion or even a single dose of an opiate both in humans and in animals. This phenomenon has been referred to as acute dependence. In contrast to extensive studies on chronic dependence, less is known about the neural mechanisms mediating acute dependence. It will benefit the develo...

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to describe patterns of major depression (MDD) in a cohort of untreated illicit opiate users recruited from 5 Canadian urban centres, identify sociodemographic characteristics of opiate users that predict MDD, and determine whether opiate users suffering from depression exhibit different drug use patterns than do participants without depression. METHOD Baseline dat...

OBJECTIVE To quantify the effect of opiate substitution treatment in relation to HIV transmission among people who inject drugs. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective published and unpublished observational studies. DATA SOURCES Search of Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, and the Cochrane Library from the earliest year to 2011 without language restriction. REVIEW METHODS We ...

BACKGROUND Despite intriguing observational cross-sectional data there are no longitudinal studies of opiate related arterial disease. As opiates act via P16INK4A/CDKN2A, and vascular ageing has been thought to be a surrogate for organismal ageing, the subject has far-reaching implications. METHODS Pulse Wave Analysis (PWA) by radial arterial tonometry (SphygmoCor) was performed on control an...

Facial pruritus associated with spinal opiate analgesia in man is thought to result either from release of histamine or from imbalance of sensory modulation secondary to spread of opiate to the medulla or fourth ventricle. There is another possibility: the sensory imbalance may be secondary to rostral spread of opiate effect by nervous transmission. Evidence is adduced in support of possible an...

Objective(s): Oxytocin is involved in modulation of many brain-mediated functions. In the present study, we investigated the central effects of oxytocin and its receptor antagonist, atosiban on inflammatory pain. The contribution of opiate receptors was explored using non-selective and selective antagonists. Materials and Methods: The fourth ventricle of the brain of anesthetized rats was impla...

of prescribing injectable heroin and methadone to opiate-dependent drug users: associated health gains and harm reductions. Active heroin injectors' perceptions and use of methadone maintenance treatment: cynical performance or self-prescribed risk reduction? Substance It takes your heart: the image of methadone maintenance in the addict world and its effects on recruitment into treatment. Opia...

INTRODUCTION The aim of the present study was to perform reliability and validity analyses of the Turkish version of the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale which is used to determine the severity of opiate withdrawal. METHODS Initially, the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) was translated into Turkish and subsequently back-translated into English. The originality of the back-translated ve...

Chronic opiate use produces persistent changes in brain neurons that are expressed as adverse effects, including physical dependence and compulsive drug-seeking behavior. Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal response to stress also occurs with chronic opiate administration and has been implicated as a contributing factor to continued substance abuse. This study provides the first...