KPNA3 is a gene that has been linked to schizophrenia susceptibility. In this study we investigated the possible association between KPNA3 variation and schizophrenia. To investigate a wider role of KPNA3 across psychiatric disorders we also analysed major depression, PTSD, nicotine dependent, alcohol dependent and opiate dependent cohorts. Using a haplotype block-based gene-tagging approach we...

Learning and memory have been suggested to be important in the development of opiate addiction. Based on the recent findings that calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is essential in learning and memory processes, and morphine treatment increases CaMKII activity in hippocampus, the present study was undertaken to examine whether inhibition of hippocampal CaMKII prevents morph...

BACKGROUND Heroin-assisted treatment has been found to be effective for people with severe opioid dependence who are not interested in or do poorly on methadone maintenance. AIMS To study heroin-assisted treatment in people on methadone who continue intravenous heroin and in those who are heroin dependent but currently not in treatment. METHOD In an open-label multicentre randomised control...

Despite decades of research, the mechanisms that underlie opiate tolerance, dependence and withdrawal remain elusive. Evidence accumulated over the past ten years suggests that the NMDA receptor plays a central role in mediating the neuroplasticity induced by chronic opiate administration in adult animals. Yet, during ontogeny, the NMDA receptor complex undergoes qualitative developmental chang...

Withdrawal from opiates, such as heroin or oral narcotics, is characterized by a host of aversive physical and emotional symptoms. High rates of relapse and limited treatment success rates for opiate addiction have prompted a search for new approaches. For many opiate addicts, achieving abstinence may be further complicated by poly-drug use and co-morbid mental disorders. Research over the past...

Pain associated-anxiety induced by formalin, which resulted in a significant delay in the development of tolerance to morphine antinociception, failed to prevent the development of physical dependence as evidenced by naloxone challenge. Dependence also developed in mice rendered tolerant to morphine. Thus, the development of morphine dependence was observed in the absence and presence of tolera...

ôbjective: the purpose of the present preliminary study was to explore the prevalence of nonmedical abuse of benzodiazepines in a group of opiate-dependent patients who were on methadone maintenance treatment (mmt) program in outpatient clinics in the south-west of tehran, ïran. methods: 114 male and female opiate-dependent clients who met dsm.ïv-tr criteria for opiate dependence with mean age ...

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...

Abstract Background: Methadone maintenance therapy is a treatment of choice for opiate addiction. Understanding opiate dependents’ experiences of patients' treatment is a key to continue the treatment and can provide help to revise the standards of methadone centers and improve the quality of treatment. This study aimed to describe the essence and structure of opiate dependents’ e...

BACKGROUND There is a paucity of data on frequency of metabolic syndrome (MS), insulin resistance (IR), and oxidative stress in Indian opiate users without comorbidities. OBJECTIVES To determine the influence of opiate use on frequency of MS, homeostasis model assessment for IR (HOMA-IR), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and oxidative stress in opiate-dependent male patients with...