BACKGROUND The rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) is important in pain expectation. Previous studies demonstrated that mechanical stimulus-induced withdrawal behaviors are spinally-mediated nocifensive reflexes in rats, but it is not known whether pain expectation is influenced by withdrawal behaviors. MATERIAL AND METHODS We reanalyzed previous mechanosensitivity measurements of 244 rats...

Objective The aim of this study was to examine current practice patterns surrounding the management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in the Northeast region of the United States. Methods A survey questionnaire with several treatment options related to current practice in the management of AWS was developed. All hospitals with 100 beds or more located in the Northeast region were selected,...

Ibogaine, an indole alkaloid, administered intracerebroventricularly 4-16 micrograms, attenuated a naloxone-precipitated withdrawal syndrome in chronic morphine-dependent rats. It appears that ibogaine has a more consistent effect on certain selective withdrawal signs related to the locomotion. This might explain an attenuating effect of ibogaine on some withdrawal signs. However, due to comple...

Jerrold B. Leikin, MD ubstance-related disorders are conditions in which an individual uses/ buses a substance, leading to maladaptive behaviors and symptoms. In iagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 4th dition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR), substance-related disorders are urther grouped into substance dependence and substance abuse. Subtance abuse refers to a maladaptive pa...

Micrographia is a common, often presenting feature of Parkinson's disease. We assessed a simple writing paradigm in 40 PD patients "off" medications, 40 different PD patients "on" medications, and 64 age- and sex-matched controls. Patients wrote "Today is a nice day" with both eyes open and eyes closed to assess the effects of visual withdrawal (eyes closure). The order (eyes open vs. eyes clos...

Dissociated hippocampal neurons, grown in culture for 2 to 3 weeks, tended to fire bursts of synaptic currents at fairly regular intervals, representing network activity. A brief exposure of cultured neurons to GABA caused a total suppression of the spontaneous network activity. Following a washout of GABA, the activity was no longer clustered in bursts and instead, the cells fired at a high ra...

The authors provide a critical review focusing on pharmacotherapy of alcohol withdrawal syndrome in hospitalized patients who are not critically ill. They outline recommendations for patient assessment and monitoring.

The usual explanation for why smoking produces dependence focuses on the effects of nicotine on dopamine and other neurobiological explanations. This review offers four somewhat different explanations: (1) nicotine can offer several psychopharmacological benefits at the age when such benefits are especially needed; (2) cigarettes provide for a rapid, frequent, reliable and easy-to-obtain reward...

BACKGROUND During the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, many patients avoided hospital visit because of fear of infection. Antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal is a risk factor for seizure recurrence. Therefore, seizure control during the SARS outbreak is a good model for examining the impact of drug withdrawal in seizure control. METHODS All seizures experienced by each ...