heroin addicts
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2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4(17)) ◽  
pp. 419-438
Author(s):  
Nermana Mujčinović ◽  
Nada Vaselić

Heroin addiction impairs every aspect of physical and psychological health of the addict, and at the same time, it impairs all forms of social functioning of the addict, as well as of everyone who loves him/her and of society as a whole, so it's necessary to put a lot of effort into treating this disease successfully. Working with heroin addicts shows that the treatment is a long and uncertain process, as the treatment must simultaneously cover three segments: psychological traits of heroin addicts, the degree of social support they have, and their motivation for this treatment. The theoretical goal of this research was to find out whether there is a link between social support and motivation for addiction treatment. The practical goal is to provide the improvement of the motivational aspect of treating heroin addicts, as well as to determine the role of social support in evaluating treatment outcomes. The research was conducted on a sample of 227 heroin addicts under treatment. The perception of social support for heroin addicts is the greatest when it comes to their families. A positive correlation was found between persistence in treatment and perceived social support from family members.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Song Wang ◽  
Jing Lin Liu ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Jun Tan ◽  
Ting Huang ◽  
...  

Purpose: This study explored the association between peripheral blood oxytocin (OT) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) and cue-induced cravings in female heroin addicts. The effect of exercise on alleviation of SAD and OT levels was also explored.Methods: A total of 72 females with heroin dependence were assigned to three groups based on SAD severity. The three groups were Non-SAD control, SAD control, and SAD exercise groups. Subjects in the SAD exercise group underwent aerobic exercise and resistance training for 8 weeks (60 min/day, 5 days/week). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) scores were used to determine plasma OT concentration and SAD, respectively. Cue-induced craving was assessed using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Desires for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ). Mixed-effect analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis were used to explore the effect and correlation between different parameters.Results: OT levels in the SAD exercise group were significantly high after exercise (p < 0.01). LSAS, VAS, and DDQ (“Desire and Intention” and “Negative reinforcement”) scores in the SAD exercise group were significantly lower after exercise (p < 0.01). Plasma OT level was negatively correlated with LSAS score (r = −0.534, p < 0.001), VAS score (r = −0.609, p < 0.001), “Desire and Intention” score (r = −0.555, p < 0.001), and “Negative reinforcement” score (r = −0.332, p < 0.01) and positively correlated with the “control” score (r = 0.258, p < 0.05). LSAS was positively correlated with VAS score (r = 0.588, p < 0.001) and “Desire and Intention” score (r = 0.282, p < 0.05).Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicate that plasma OT is a potential peripheral biomarker for prediction of the severity of social anxiety in female heroin withdrawal patients. Aerobic exercise combined with resistance training plus incremental load for 8 weeks can increase plasma OT levels and significantly reduce severity of SAD and cue-induced cravings in female heroin addicts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zunyue Zhang ◽  
Hongjin Wu ◽  
Qingyan Peng ◽  
Zhenrong Xie ◽  
Fengrong Chen ◽  
...  

Heroin addiction and withdrawal influence multiple physiological functions, including immune responses, but the mechanism remains largely elusive. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular inflammatory interactome, particularly the cytokines and transcriptome regulatory network in heroin addicts undergoing withdrawal, compared to healthy controls (HCs). Twenty-seven cytokines were simultaneously assessed in 41 heroin addicts, including 20 at the acute withdrawal (AW) stage and 21 at the protracted withdrawal (PW) stage, and 38 age- and gender-matched HCs. Disturbed T-helper(Th)1/Th2, Th1/Th17, and Th2/Th17 balances, characterized by reduced interleukin (IL)-2, elevated IL-4, IL-10, and IL-17A, but normal TNF-α, were present in the AW subjects. These imbalances were mostly restored to the baseline at the PW stage. However, the cytokines TNF-α, IL-2, IL-7, IL-10, and IL-17A remained dysregulated. This study also profiled exosomal long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and mRNA in the plasma of heroin addicts, constructed co-expression gene regulation networks, and identified lncRNA-mRNA-pathway pairs specifically associated with alterations in cytokine profiles and Th1/Th2/Th17 imbalances. Altogether, a large amount of cytokine and exosomal lncRNA/mRNA expression profiling data relating to heroin withdrawal was obtained, providing a useful experimental and theoretical basis for further understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of withdrawal symptoms in heroin addicts.


Aging ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhou ◽  
Zhenrong Xie ◽  
Zunyue Zhang ◽  
Jiqing Yang ◽  
Minghui Chen ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zunyue Zhang ◽  
Hongjin Wu ◽  
Qingyan Peng ◽  
Zhenrong Xie ◽  
Fengrong Chen ◽  
...  

Heroin addiction and withdrawal influence multiple physiological functions, including immune responses, but the mechanism remains largely elusive. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular inflammatory interactome, particularly the cytokines and transcriptome regulatory network in heroin addicts undergoing withdrawal, compared to healthy controls (HCs). Twenty-seven cytokines were simultaneously assessed in 41 heroin addicts, including 20 at the acute withdrawal (AW) stage and 21 at the protracted withdrawal (PW) stage, and 38 age- and gender-matched HCs. Disturbed T-helper(Th)1/Th2, Th1/Th17, and Th2/Th17 balances, characterized by reduced interleukin (IL)-2, elevated IL-4, IL-10, and IL-17A, but normal TNF-α, were present in the AW subjects. These imbalances were mostly restored to the baseline at the PW stage. However, the cytokines TNF-α, IL-2, IL-7, IL-10, and IL-17A remained dysregulated. This study also profiled exosomal long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and mRNA in the plasma of heroin addicts, constructed co-expression gene regulation networks, and identified lncRNA-mRNA-pathway pairs specifically associated with alterations in cytokine profiles and Th1/Th2/Th17 imbalances. Altogether, a large amount of cytokine and exosomal lncRNA/mRNA expression profiling data relating to heroin withdrawal was obtained, providing a useful experimental and theoretical basis for further understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of withdrawal symptoms in heroin addicts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsin Ahmad Ghauri ◽  
Fahad Hassan ◽  
Younusa Hassan ◽  
Naveel Atif ◽  
Ahmad Adnan

Abstract Background The analysis of hair samples for the detection of drugs has become one of the convincing strategies in the field of forensic toxicology. A large number of cases concerning heroin abuse or its byproducts have been documented under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997, over the past decade. The present study was carried out with an aim to evaluate the primary metabolite of heroin, i.e., 6-monoacetylemorphine (6-MAM), in hair samples of addicts and subjects undergoing rehabilitation, thereafter accessing the success rate of the rehabilitation program at the de-addiction center. Results Hair samples were randomly collected from 20 regular heroin addicts and 20 heroin addicts from their past, from the rehabilitation center, of different age groups. Samples were cleaned, digested, and extracted using an alkaline digestion mediator methyl tertiary butyl ether, followed by quantification of 6-MAM via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The mean concentration of 6-MAM in regular heroin addicts detected was 7.80 ng/mg and 2.34 ng/mg in samples of subjects undergoing rehabilitation at the de-addiction center, respectively. Conclusion Traces of 6-MAM in the hair sample of heroin addicts can be efficiently detected days after the last intake of heroin. In addition to that, our findings also give an idea for future evaluating the approximate timeframe for detection of 6-MAM and/or other metabolites of heroin in the hair sample. However, in the future, by carefully analyzing the hair samples that can be taken from rehabilitation centers from target subjects at different time intervals, the exact duration of traceable quantity of 6-MAM can be determined in the hair sample. Finally, it can be concluded that there is a significant success rate of the rehabilitation program at de-addiction centers in connection with dragging the 6-MAM level from the body.


Author(s):  
Tamara Efendić Spahić ◽  
Elvis Vardo ◽  
Mitra Mirković-Hajdukov

The research dealt with the identification of significant differences in the basic dimensions of personality according to the five-factor model between two groups of respondents: heroin addicts and the control group of respondents, non-consumers of psychoactive substances. Also, we wanted to determine whether the respondents - heroin addicts in relation to the non-clinical group differ significantly in personality traits given the completeness of the family environment in which they grew up, and the propensity of parents to alcoholism and violent behavior. The study included a sample of 297 subjects, of which 155were heroin users and 142 were non-clinical control group subjects, students of different study profiles of the University of Tuzla. The clinical and non-clinical samples were uniform in terms of characteristics important for the research. In order to test the research hypotheses, in addition to the insight into the descriptive parameters, a one-way analysis of variance was used. The results show that heroin users achieve significantly higher results in the dimensions of Agreeableness (F = 21.51; p = 0.00),Conscientiousness (F = 13.89; p = 0.00) and Neuroticism (F = 13.23; p = 0.00), while the clinical and non-clinical groups do not differ significantly in the dimensions of Openness and Extraversion. In the group of heroin consumers, respondents coming from incomplete families achieve significantly lower results on the Conscientiousness dimension (F = 4.20; p = 0.04), the tendency to consume parental alcohol proved to be a significant factor for the Neuroticism dimension (F = 4.39; p = 0, 04) and openness (F = 15.41; p = 0.00), while parental propensity to violent behavior proved to be a significant factor for the Neuroticism dimension (F = 4.49; p = 0.04) and Openness (F = 15.41; p = 0.00). ). When it comes to the non-clinical control group, family completeness and characteristics of the family environment (parents ‘tendency to consume alcohol and parents’ tendency to violent behavior) did not prove to be significant factors for differences in personality traits.


2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 861
Author(s):  
Huiyan CAI ◽  
Xin MIAO ◽  
Pengfei WANG ◽  
Zhiwei LIN ◽  
Mengcheng WANG ◽  
...  

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