immunoassay, whereas the Syva and Genix assays are one-step immunochromatographic assays for rapid detection of opiates in urine with a cutoff concentration of 300 mg/L. Information about rifampin cross-reactivity with these immunoassays was not available from the manufacturers. The only reported interference for rifampin is with the opiates kinetic interaction of microparticles in solution (KI...

Ultra-low-dose opioid antagonists, when combined with opiates, increase the analgesic efficacy and duration of analgesia of the opiate. This enhanced and prolonged analgesia was recently demonstrated in a 350-patient Phase II clinical trial of Oxytrex, a novel drug candidate that combines oxycodone with an ultra-low dose of the opioid antagonist naltrexone. Extensive preclinical data also show ...

PURPOSE We tested the hypothesis that prescription coverage affects the prescribing of long-acting opiates to indigent inner city minority patients with cancer pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a chart review of 360 patients treated in the Oncology Practice at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey University Hospital, who were prescribed opiate pain medications. Half the p...

Chronic exposure to opiates eventually leads to drug addiction, which is believed to involve maladaptive changes in brain function, but the underlying neuronal mechanisms remain primarily unknown. Given the known effects of opiates such as morphine and heroin on hippocampal function, we investigated the potential effect of chronic opiate treatment on long-term potentiation (LTP) at CA1 synapses...

Opiates have been the most widely investigated class of natural products.1 The two most prominent opiates, morphine and codeine, have had a long history of use and abuse. Numerous semisynthetic opiates have been synthesized in an effort to obtain analgesics that are free of tolerance, physical dependence, and addiction liability. The development of totally synthetic analgesics subsequently led ...

The brainstem tegmental pedunculopontine nucleus (TPP) is involved in reward signalling and is functionally and anatomically linked to the VTA. We examined the possible role of the TPP as a reward transmission output for GABAA receptors in the VTA in rats not previously exposed to opiates vs. rats that were chronically exposed to and in withdrawal from opiates or in rats that had recovered from...