PURPOSE OF REVIEW Opioid administration is a mainstay of anesthetic practice both for treating acute perioperative pain and for chronic pain syndromes. Growing pharmacogenetic data make it evident that many opiate-related phenomena are influenced by genetics. Genetic variation may significantly affect opiate absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity. We provide a current revi...

OBJECTIVES To examine survival and long term cessation of injecting in a cohort of drug users and to assess the influence of opiate substitution treatment on these outcomes. DESIGN Prospective open cohort study. SETTING A single primary care facility in Edinburgh. PARTICIPANTS 794 patients with a history of injecting drug use presenting between 1980 and 2007; 655 (82%) were followed up by...

background: musculoskeletal disorders (msds) represent one of the most common occupational health education problems in both developed and developing countries. the aim of this study was to assess the effect of an occupational ergonomic training educational programon awareness, attitude and work-related musculoskeletal disorders behavior among office workers. material and methods: firstly,200 o...

background south pars special economic energy zone is the world's second largest gas reservoir that was established two decades ago. high incidence of social harms is observed in this region due to various problems such as drug addiction which is of high prevalence. conclusions it is necessary to implement simultaneous national interventions as soon as possible to improve the economic, social, ...

the musculoskeletal disorders cover a large percent of occupational diseases; therefore, in order to protect workers from such disorders, there is a need to evaluate workers positions at work in different industries. in a major furniture manufacture located in tehran, 500 workers were examined. these workers were divided into fourteen working groups, including production lines of water-heater, ...

AIM The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of gabapentin (1600 mg/d) as an adjunctive to methadone-assisted detoxification in the treatment of opioid withdrawal symptoms. DESIGN This was a 3-week open-label study (as second phase) following a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 900 mg/d of gabapentin (as first phase of this study). SETTING The study was conducted at a spe...

INTRODUCTION Research suggests that methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) effectively reduces opiate dependence and related health and social problems. However, few studies have examined its effectiveness among the elderly. This study examined a monthly MMT regime for elderly opium addicts attending the National Addictions Management Service, Singapore. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study used a...

The recent paper on the methadone-and buprenor-phine-related testicular toxicity (1) adds a detailed study to the gonadal toxicity of opiates given over the brief period of 15 days. The study mentions the divergent published views relating to opiate-induced hypogonadism, and rightly cites the importance of hypothalamic hypo-gonadism as the major background endocrine factor. The real importance ...

Among the various non-neuronal cell types known to express and utilize neuropeptides, those of the immune system have received much attention in recent years. In particular, comparative studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have shown that endogenous opioid peptides are engaged in receptor mediated autoregulatory immune and neuroendocrine processes. The majority of these immune processes are...

Background As opiate use has increased, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of opiate users presenting for treatment. Questions regarding the challenges of treating opiate users in residential treatment remain largely unanswered. This study seeks to determine what, if any, meaningful differences exist between opiate and non-opiate users, as well as within opiate users who ente...