OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the results of smoking cessation therapy in a specialist unit by calculating the probability of continued abstinence at 6-month follow-up and analyzing differences according to the characteristics of the individuals. PATIENTS AND METHODS A prospective longitudinal study was undertaken in smokers who received multicomponent smoking-cessation therap...

AIMS To investigate whether a stimulant- and alcohol-focused brief motivational intervention induces positive behaviour change among young, regular users of MDMA ('ecstasy'), cocaine powder and crack cocaine. DESIGN AND MEASUREMENTS A randomized trial of the intervention versus a control group who received written health risk information materials only. All participants completed a baseline s...

M e t h o d s Data sources: Drug names found in the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group’s specialized register, reference lists, recent reviews, and meeting abstracts were searched in PubMed and EMBASE/Excerpta Medica (March 2004). Investigators were contacted as needed. Study selection and assessment: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared any antidepressant with placebo or another tre...

The mixed agonist-antagonist analgesics buprenorphine, butorphanol, nalbuphine, pentazocine and picenadol were compared to the prototype mu and kappa agonists morphine and Mr 2033, respectively, in the following tests in rhesus monkeys: overt behavioral effects upon acute administration in drug-naive animals; discriminative stimulus properties in monkeys trained to respond to either etorphine o...

Anxiety is often a core element of withdrawal symptoms; however, risk factors associated with anxiety symptoms during the early stage of withdrawal in methamphetamine (METH) users are not well understood. Two hundred ten METH-dependent subjects who had been abstinent for 1 to 7 days were recruited. We used a set of self-administrative questionnaires eliciting information on sociodemographics, d...

Stress and stress-associated high levels of glucocorticoid hormones are well-known risk factors in the development of drug addiction and vulnerability to relapse (Koob & Kreek, 2007; Koob, 2008). Human studies indicated that addicts often use drugs to relive their stress and anxiety. Moreover, psychological stress is known to increase vulnerability to addiction. This „self treatment” may initia...

Impaired cognitive processing is a hallmark of addiction. In particular, deficits in inhibitory control can propel continued drug use despite adverse consequences. Clinical evidence shows that detoxified alcoholics exhibit poor inhibitory control in the Continuous Performance Task (CPT) and related tests of motor impulsivity. Animal models may provide important insight into the neural mechanism...

A RECENT NATIONAL STUDY indicated that illicit drug use is 16.2% among pregnant teens and 7.4% among pregnant women aged 18 to 25 years. Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome in newborns following birth. The syndrome most commonly occurs in the context of antepartum opiate use, although other drugs have also been implicated. In addition to NAS, illicit drug use (speci...