Factors Impacting Why Women Stay in Marital Life with Substance dependent Husbands: A Grounded Theory Study

Introduction: Substance abuse is one of the major factors leading to divorce in Iran. Therefore, this study aimed to present a qualitative model of factors affecting women to stay married with substance-dependent husbands. Methods: The grounded theory in the qualitative paradigm was used. Twenty participants (10 women and 10 experts) were interviewed based on theoretical saturation, purposeful, and snowball sampling, and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interviews were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Results: The participants’ mean age for women was (M=35.2, SD=7.40, n=10) and for experts was (M= 37. 3, SD= 7.42, n=10), half of whom were men and half were women for experts. The results indicated that causal conditions consisted of the child as a barrier to leaving the marital relationship; feeling satisfied with the marital relationship; the attitudes, expectations, and feelings of the spouses; promising behaviors of the husband; financial dependency on the husband, and level of substance-related disorder. The intervening condition was the family of origin’s role. The women's survival strategies in marital life include the use of supportive resources, increasing awareness, and the use of constructive behaviors. The contextual conditions were social and legal factors. Consequences of the core category (A journey with fear and hope), were desirable and undesirable emotions and experiences. Conclusion: The results indicated that spouses of substance-dependent husbands stay in the marriage, not just due to obstacles like familial, social, legal, and financial factors, but also due to resourceful supports, marital satisfaction, and enjoy having a family with husband and children.

An Exploratory Study in Gambling Recovery Communities: A Comparison Between ‘‘Pure’’ and Substance-Abusing Gamblers

Most of the available literature has shown that gambling disorder (GD) is often associated with several psychiatric conditions. Comorbidities with mood disorders, impulsiveness, personality traits, and impairments in cognitive function have also been frequently investigated. However, it is currently uncommon to study this disorder in individuals without comorbid substance abuse; therefore, the primary aim of our study was to compare the psychological profile of individuals with GD with and without substance use disorder. A total of 60 participants (100% male), including 20 individuals with GD, 20 substance-dependent gamblers (SDGs), and 20 healthy controls (HCs), were assessed with several clinical measures to investigate impulsivity, hostility, mood, and personality traits, as well as with cognitive tasks (i.e., decision-making tasks). Our results showed differences in both experimental groups compared with the HC group in mood disorders, impulsivity, and hostility traits. The ‘‘pure’’ GD group differed from the SDG group only in characteristics related to mood disorders (e.g., State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y2, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and assault dimension), whereas greater impairment in decision making processes related to risky choices was shown in the SDG group. This study suggests the importance of studying pure GD to clarify the underlying mechanisms without the neurotoxic effects of the substances. This could provide an important contribution to the treatment and understanding of this complex disorder.

Comparison of Behavioral Cerebral Systems in Tattooed and Non-tattooed Substance-Dependent Individuals

Background: Tattoos or stencils on the body have a special charm for the people of different cultures. The fact that such stencils are considered attractive and essential to some people from a specific culture has led to the conclusion that there might be factors which make tattooing attractive to someone. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine and compare behavioral activation system (BAS), behavioral inhibition system (BIS), and fight-or-flight system between tattooed and non-tattooed substance-dependent individuals. Methods: Using convenience sampling method, this study included 146 substance-dependent individuals (73 tattooed and 73 non-tattooed) referring to Baharan rehabilitation center in Zahedan, Iran. Data collection was done by the short form of the Gray–Wilson Personality Questionnaire (GWPQ), and data were analyzed by independent t-test. Results: According to the results of GWPQ, in BIS, in tattooed individuals, extinction and total scores of avoidance was higher than non-tattooed. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference between BAS and fight-or-flight system. Conclusions: While BAS is associated with positive emotions, BIS is associated with negative emotions. The attitudes of substance-dependent individuals towards tattoos are slightly different from other people. The tattoo can be used as a way to extinction the emotions and avoiding to deal with pejorative emotions. Higher impulsivity can lead substance-dependent people to do high-risk behaviors such as tattooing.

Physiology-based toxicokinetic modelling of aluminium in rat and man

A sufficient quantitative understanding of aluminium (Al) toxicokinetics (TK) in man is still lacking, although highly desirable for risk assessment of Al exposure. Baseline exposure and the risk of contamination severely limit the feasibility of TK studies administering the naturally occurring isotope 27Al, both in animals and man. These limitations are absent in studies with 26Al as a tracer, but tissue data are limited to animal studies. A TK model capable of inter-species translation to make valid predictions of Al levels in humans—especially in toxicological relevant tissues like bone and brain—is urgently needed. Here, we present: (i) a curated dataset which comprises all eligible studies with single doses of 26Al tracer administered as citrate or chloride salts orally and/or intravenously to rats and humans, including ultra-long-term kinetic profiles for plasma, blood, liver, spleen, muscle, bone, brain, kidney, and urine up to 150 weeks; and (ii) the development of a physiology-based (PB) model for Al TK after intravenous and oral administration of aqueous Al citrate and Al chloride solutions in rats and humans. Based on the comprehensive curated 26Al dataset, we estimated substance-dependent parameters within a non-linear mixed-effect modelling context. The model fitted the heterogeneous 26Al data very well and was successfully validated against datasets in rats and humans. The presented PBTK model for Al, based on the most extensive and diverse dataset of Al exposure to date, constitutes a major advancement in the field, thereby paving the way towards a more quantitative risk assessment in humans.

Is It Possible to Shift from Down to Top Rank? A Focus on the Mesolimbic Dopaminergic System and Cocaine Abuse

Impaired social behavior is a common feature of many psychiatric disorders, in particular with substance abuse disorders. Switching the preference of the substance-dependent individual toward social interaction activities remains one of the major challenges in drug dependence therapy. However, social interactions yield to the emergence of social ranking. In this review, we provide an overview of the studies that examined how social status can influence the dopaminergic mesolimbic system and how drug-seeking behavior is affected. Generally, social dominance is associated with an increase in dopamine D2/3 receptor binding in the striatum and a reduced behavioral response to drugs of abuse. However, it is not clear whether higher D2 receptor availability is a result of increased D2 receptor density and/or reduced dopamine release in the striatum. Here, we discuss the possibility of a potential shift from down to top rank via manipulation of the mesolimbic system. Identifying the neurobiology underlying a potential rank switch to a resilient phenotype is of particular interest in order to promote a positive coping behavior toward long-term abstinence from drugs of abuse and a protection against relapse to drugs. Such a shift may contribute to a more successful therapeutic approach to cocaine addiction.