The Mediating Role of Social Support in the Relationship Between Parenting Styles and Adolescent Drug Abuse Identification

Adolescent drug abuse is a social issue of global concern, causing a serious burden of diseases for individuals, families and society. To design effective prevention and intervention strategies for adolescent drug abusers, the predictive factors associated with drug abuse must be quantified and assessed. This study explores the similarities and differences between the parenting styles of adolescent drug abusers and non-drug abusers and applies a structural equation model to analyze the mechanisms involved between parenting styles, social support and adolescent drug abuse identification. Data were derived from adolescent drug abusers (n = 363) and non-drug abusers (n = 229) between the ages of 18 and 35 in China, and the data were collected and analyzed by SPSS 26 and AMOS 24. The results show that parenting styles significantly predict adolescent drug abuse identification, and different parenting styles have different influencing mechanisms, which further indicates that poor parenting styles are a risk factor for adolescent drug abuse. Additionally, social support plays a mediating role between parenting styles and drug abuse identification (χ2/df = 4.52, CFI = 0.939, TLI = 0.914, RMSEA = 0.077, IFI = 0.939, PCFI = 0.671). The specific pathways involved are as follows: Paternal parenting style → Social support → Drug abuse identification and Maternal parenting style → Social support → Drug abuse identification. However, beyond this, the mediation model of social support shows good adaptability and stability between adolescent drug abusers and non-drug abusers. Since parenting styles and social support are important predictors of adolescent drug abuse, the importance of integrating family-social support antidrug programs into adolescent prevention and intervention strategies should be considered.

Decoding Emotion in Drug Abusers: Evidence for Face and Body Emotion Recognition and for Disgust Emotion

Background: Different drugs damage the frontal cortices, particularly the prefrontal areas involved in both emotional and cognitive functions, with a consequence of decoding emotion deficits for people with substance abuse. The present study aims to explore the cognitive impairments in drug abusers through facial, body and disgust emotion recognition, expanding the investigation of emotions, processing, measuring accuracy and response velocity. Method: We enrolled 13 addicted to cocaine and 12 alcohol patients attending treatment services in Italy, comparing them with 33 matched controls. Facial emotion and body posture recognition tasks, a disgust rating task, and the Barrat Impulsivity Scale were included in the experimental assessment. Results: We found that emotional processes are differently influenced by cocaine and alcohol, suggesting that these substances impact diverse cerebral systems. Conclusion: The contribution made by the duration of consumption on emotional processing seems far less important than for cognitive processes. Drug abusers seem to be slower on elaboration of emotions and, in particular, of disgust emotion. Considering that the participants were not impaired in cognition, our data support the hypothesis that emotional impairments emerge independently from damage to cognitive functions.

Stimulant Drugs of Abuse and Cardiac Arrhythmias

Nonmedical use of prescription and nonprescription drugs is a worldwide epidemic, rapidly growing in magnitude with deaths because of overdose and chronic use. A vast majority of these drugs are stimulants that have various effects on the cardiovascular system including the cardiac rhythm. Drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine, have measured effects on the conduction system and through several direct and indirect pathways, utilizing multiple second messenger systems, change the structural and electrical substrate of the heart, thereby promoting cardiac dysrhythmias. Substituted amphetamines and cocaine affect the expression and activation kinetics of multiple ion channels and calcium signaling proteins resulting in EKG changes, and atrial and ventricular brady and tachyarrhythmias. Preexisting conditions cause substrate changes in the heart, which decrease the threshold for such drug-induced cardiac arrhythmias. The treatment of cardiac arrhythmias in patients who take drugs of abuse may be specialized and will require an understanding of the unique underlying mechanisms and necessitates a multidisciplinary approach. The use of primary or secondary prevention defibrillators in drug abusers with chronic systolic heart failure is both sensitive and controversial. This review provides a broad overview of cardiac arrhythmias associated with stimulant substance abuse and their management.

Effect of Maternal Methadone Use on Neonatal Outcomes: Results of a Cohort Study

Background: Substance abuse treatment is challenging in pregnancy, and methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) is a therapeutic choice. Methadone can cross the placenta and is poorly secreted in breast milk. Given these inconsistent findings of methadone effect on neonatal outcomes, this study was done to investigate the results in neonates of mothers treated with methadone in Mashhad. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, mothers referring to two academic hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were studied. Three groups were considered: MMT, other drug abusers, and healthy control. Maternal information, including demographic characteristics, fertility characteristics, and methadone treatment-related characteristics, and neonatal information, including demographic characteristics and neonatal outcomes, were assessed. Results: Overall, 122 pregnant women with a mean age of 29.14 ± 4.44 years were studied in three groups: control (n = 59), MMT (n = 32), and other drug abusers (n = 31). Baseline characteristics (mothers’ age, residence, chronic hypertension, preeclampsia, diabetes, heart disease, thyroid disease, and other diseases) were not different between the three groups. The highest history of miscarriage was seen in other drug abusers (35.5%) (P = 0.023). The mean weight, height, and head circumference of neonates in the control group were significantly higher than the methadone group (P < 0.001), and in the methadone group was higher than in the other drugs abusers (P < 0.001). The highest prevalence of malformations (16.1%) and hospitalization in the NICU (51.6%) was observed in infants of other drug abusers. After adjusting for confounding variables, the odds ratio (OR) of low-birth-weight infants was 13.7 in the methadone group and 1946 in the other drugs group compared to the healthy control group. The OR of neonates less than 50cm in height was 11.4 in the methadone group and 22.5 in the other drugs. Besides, the OR of neonates less than 35cm was 4.7 in the methadone group and 7.3 in other drugs. Conclusions: Although the neonates of mothers who used methadone had a higher rate of inappropriate intrauterine growth indices than healthy women, methadone consumption compared to other drugs had significantly reduced unacceptable outcomes in neonates. Increased gestational age and reduced preterm delivery risk were observed in methadone-treated mothers.

The Menace of Drug Addiction in the Family: Challenges, Coping Strategies and Recommendations

Malaysia is witnessing a significant impact of drug use among its population which has seen an upward trend in the last decade. Family members of drug users and drug abusers have borne the heaviest brunt and therefore, this research examines how the family member cope with the latter’s’ addiction. Eighteen (18) family members of drug users in Penang, Malaysia were interviewed in this qualitative research. Primary data gleaned from these in-depth interviews were analysed, and findings showed that family members adopted many different coping mechanism and strategies, namely emotional, avoidance, controlling, inactive, assertive and supportive in dealing with challenges of intra family drug addiction. External and internal resources as well as support systems were also accessed. Specifically, close relatives and counsellors from National Anti-drugs Agency were approached for emotional support and practical guidance. This research found affected family members who formed self-help and support groups as part of their coping strategies were able to discover meaningful and useful ways to deal with the destructive effects of drug abuse. Government and non-governmental agencies also assisted affected family members in offering practical help. However, it is important both government and non-governmental agencies play a more proactive role. The National Anti-drugs Agency in particular, it is recommended provide tailor made programmes and coping skills in addressing these traumatic situations and enable families deal with this destructive habit of addiction.

Generalized Pruritus and Gradual Loss of Vision as the Presenting Complaints of Acute HIV Infection: Management Challenges during COVID-19 Pandemic

Background. Although the prevalence of HIV is low in Bangladesh, there is a potential for an increased number of cases. This is because of high cross-border mobility (India and Myanmar) of people and increased injection drug abusers amongst youth in the cities and rural areas, HIV can present in many ways, from asymptomatic to advanced disease, including various atypical (generalized itching) and advanced (loss of vision) manifestations. A high degree of suspicion is required to diagnose HIV in a country like Bangladesh. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are essential to have a better outcome. Methods. Here, we report two thought-provoking cases where patients were suffering from generalized itchy lesions (pruritic papular eruption) throughout the body for a long time and gradual loss of vision in another case. Results. Due to lack of suspicion, initially, HIV screening was not done. Both patients visited several health centres, but no diagnosis was made. Moreover, COVID-19 pandemic worsens the situation. Finally, they were diagnosed with HIV; unfortunately, one of them lost her vision due to CMV retinitis and another patient died of other complications. Conclusion. Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic put many challenges to ensure optimum care, especially for patients with long-sufferings like HIV. Clinicians have to have a very high degree of suspicion while dealing with patients presented with rare manifestations, particularly in a low endemic clinical setting.

Prefrontal fNIRS-based clinical data analysis of brain functions in individuals abusing different types of drugs

Background The activation degree of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) functional area in drug abusers is directly related to the craving for drugs and the tolerance to punishment. Currently, among the clinical research on drug rehabilitation, there has been little analysis of the OFC activation in individuals abusing different types of drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine, and mixed drugs. Therefore, it becomes urgently necessary to clinically investigate the abuse of different drugs, so as to explore the effects of different types of drugs on the human brain. Methods Based on prefrontal high-density functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), this research designs an experiment that includes resting and drug addiction induction. Hemoglobin concentrations of 30 drug users (10 on methamphetamine, 10 on heroin, and 10 on mixed drugs) were collected using fNIRS and analyzed by combining algorithm and statistics. Results Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), Support vector machine (SVM) and Machine-learning algorithm was implemented to classify different drug abusers. Oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) activations in the OFC of different drug abusers were statistically analyzed, and the differences were confirmed. Innovative findings: in both the Right-OFC and Left-OFC areas, methamphetamine abusers had the highest degree of OFC activation, followed by those abusing mixed drugs, and heroin abusers had the lowest. The same result was obtained when OFC activation was investigated without distinguishing the left and right hemispheres. Conclusions The findings confirmed the significant differences among different drug abusers and the patterns of OFC activations, providing a theoretical basis for personalized clinical treatment of drug rehabilitation in the future.

Social Reintegration of Rehabilitated Drug Abusers: An Explorative Investigation of Views of Rehabilitees in Lagos, Nigeria

Objective: This study examined the influence of family structure, employment opportunities, marital status and stigmatization on reintegration of rehabilitated drug abusers in Lagos, Nigeria. Method: This study used the qualitative research design to collect data from 50 respondents. The study was conducted in a Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital using the outpatient clinic. Data were analysed adopting the phenomenological approach of analysis. Nvivo 12 plus was used to analyse the data. Findings: Immediate family members were supportive of drug abusers’ reintegration with those from monogamous family receiving more support than those from the polygamous family structure. Being married is an important factor in rehabilitation and reintegration as expressed by the respondents. Being employed either in private or private sector assisted them in keeping their eyes off drugs. Stigmatization was experienced at community level, workplaces and even among friends and peer. Conclusion: Efforts should be put in place to educate members of the public on the need to support drug abusers undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration for total reintegration into the society. This involves avoiding any of stigmatization towards rehabilitated drug abusers.

DEKRIMINALISASI PENGGUNA NARKOBA : POLITIK KRIMINAL PENANGGULANGAN PROBLEMATIKA OVERCAPACITY LEMBAGA PERMASYARAKATAN DI INDONESIA

Prison overcapacity is one of the crucial legal issues at this time, in this case the overcapacity has reached 204%. The large number of narcotic convicts is one of the causes of prison overcapacity, related to this, narcotics convicts reach 50% of the total inmates in Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to determine the need for drug users, namely abusers and drug addicts to be handled with non-penal efforts and decriminalization of drug abusers in order to reduce the level of overcapacity of prisons in Indonesia. The research method used is normative legal research that prioritizes secondary data. The results of the study confirm that addicts and abusers are victims who are entitled to protection so as not to become victims of criminal acts and have the right to obtain guarantees or rehabilitation for the losses they have received. So that non-penal efforts are needed to protect the rights of victims and decriminalization needs to be done as part of criminal politics to bring criminal law to a better direction, in this case upholding the rights of victims and being a solution to the problem of overcapacity in prisons in Indonesia. Keywords: Overcapacity, decriminalization, rehabilitation