OBJECTIVE To prospectively assess if opiate antagonist treatment or the opiate-free status could reverse opiate-related vasculopathy. DESIGN Longitudinal Open Observational, Serial 'N of One', over 6.5 years under various treatment conditions: opiate dependence, naltrexone and opiate-free. SETTING Primary care, Australia. PARTICIPANTS 20 opiate-dependent patients (16 males: 16 cases of bu...

BACKGROUND Cognitive deficits and personality pathology are prevalent in opiate dependence, even during periods of remission, and likely contribute to relapse. Understanding the relationship between the two in vulnerable, opiate-addicted patients may contribute to the design of better treatment and relapse prevention strategies. METHODS The Millon Multiaxial Clinical Inventory (MCMI) and a se...

Opiates are among the most powerful analgesics and pain-relieving agents. However, they are potentially extremely addictive thereby limiting their medical use, making them exceedingly susceptible to abuse and adding to the global drug problem. It is believed that positive memories associated with the pleasurable effects of opiates and negative memories associated with dysphoria during opiate wi...

conclusions low onset age of smoking cigarettes, high novelty seeking and low cooperativeness in opiate dependents are among the important personality traits in future use of drugs that can predict the subsequent onset of using opiate drugs. results opiate addicts had higher scores in novelty seeking dimension and lower scores in cooperativeness compared to nicotine addicts. the onset age of sm...

Article history: Received 8 June 2015 Accepted 4 February 2016 Available online 11 February 2016 The importance of the GABA-benzodiazepine receptor complex and its subtypes are increasingly recognised in addiction. Using theα1/α5 benzodiazepine receptor PET radioligand [C]Ro15 4513, we previously showed reduced binding in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus in abstinent alcohol dependence. We...

Objectives: According to the gateway drug theory, tobacco use is a predisposing factor for future substance abuse. This study was conducted to compare nicotine and opiate dependents to identify the differences between their personality traits and psychopathology that makes them turn to other substances after cigarette smoking. Methods: A causal-comparative study was conducted. Three groups w...

The importance of the GABA-benzodiazepine receptor complex and its subtypes are increasingly recognised in addiction. Using the α1/α5 benzodiazepine receptor PET radioligand [(11)C]Ro15 4513, we previously showed reduced binding in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus in abstinent alcohol dependence. We proposed that reduced [(11)C]Ro15 4513 binding in the nucleus accumbens was a marker of add...

and dependence, at least in in vivo systems. The recent cloning of these receptors has enabled more penetrating Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry Yale University School of Medicine analyses (Mansour et al., 1995), which could yet reveal alterations related to opiate addiction. For example, ex-New Haven, Connecticut 06508 posure to agonist in vitro elicits receptor desensitization and down-regu...

Although only a partial mu-opiate agonist, buprenorphine can be abused and diverted from medical therapy to the illicit drug market. A combination of buprenorphine and naloxone for sublingual administration may discourage diversion and abuse by precipitating opiate withdrawal when taken parenterally. Because opiate-abusing populations are not homogeneous and have varying levels of opiate depend...

Although many in the addiction treatment field use the term "medication-assisted treatment" to describe a combination of pharmacotherapy and counseling to address substance dependence, research has demonstrated that opioid agonist treatment alone is effective in patients with opioid dependence, regardless of whether they receive counseling. The time has come to call pharmacotherapy for such pat...