New Pharmacological Approaches to Methamphetamine Dependence

Objectives: This study was carried out with the objectives of investigating the relationship between Family relationship and loneliness in adolescents. Accepted children will score less on loneliness. Neglected children will score high on loneliness. Concentrated children score less on loneliness as compare to accepted children. Method: Sample consisted of 150 adolescent selected by purposive sampling technique. The scales employed for data collection were Family Relationship Inventory by Sherry and Sinha and UCLA loneliness (III) Scale by Russell. Hypothesized that accepted children will score less on loneliness as compare to concentrated and neglected. Results: 150 subjects were taken & after scoring those high on accepted, concentrated and neglected were selected to form three groups. Conclusion: Findings indicate that the fundamental cause of loneliness is disconnection. Family support and close relationships with their adult children play a central role in adjusting to a new life and in preventing and/or lessening

Combination of Clomipramine and Carbamazepine for Treatment of Patients with Methamphetamine Dependence

Objective: There are few new approaches to the pharmacotherapeutic treatment of methamphetamine dependence in the literature. The publications contain abundant data on various methods of pharmacotherapeutic treatment of methamphetamine dependence. However, no pharmacotherapeutic therapy for methamphetamine dependence is sufficient. Materials and Methods: This was a double-blind study in patients diagnosed with methamphetamine dependence according to DSM-5. A total of 100 patients who met the DSM-5 criteria for methamphetamine dependence were examined. All male patients from 18 to 60 years old. The patients were divided into two groups of 50 people: the first group received clomipramine (anafranil) 300 mg / day (100 mg 3 times a day) and carbamazepine 600 mg / day (200 mg 3 times a day) orally. The second group received an indifferent drug (placebo) Results: as shown by follow-up data (12 months), among 50 patients who received anaphrani and carbamazepine only, 10 had short-term breakdowns associated with exposure to microsocial causes. The rest of the patients were in remission. Among patients receiving placebo, only 5 patients experienced remission, all the rest had cases of relapse. Responder analysis was performed using chi-square (x2) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Conclusion. Clinical statistics indicate the high efficiency of the use of anaphrani and carbamazepine in the treatment of methamphetamine dependence. The mechanisms of action of the drug are being discussed.

Exercise-Regulated Gene Differential Expression In The Hippocampal Region of C57BL/6J Mice Ameliorates Methamphetamine Dependence

Background: Methamphetamine (METH) is the highly addictive psychoactive drug which could harm to individual health and lead to great social problems. Various approaches have been adopted to address these problems, but relapse rates remain high. Recently, it has been found that comprehensive treatment combined with scientific and appropriate exercise intervention can improve mental state and physical fitness of drug addicts and promote their physical and mental rehabilitation. Long-term regular exercise improves the symptoms of METH withdrawal and reduce METH relapse. This study is to investigate the effects and regulated genes expression related to running exercise in METH addicted mice. Method: We used male C57BL/6J mice to construct METH addiction model and performed running exercise intervention, conditional place preference (CPP) was used to measure the effects of running intervention on METH addict mice. RNA sequencing(RNA-seq) and transcriptome analysis was performed on mice hippocampus, functions and differential expressed genes (DEGs) significantly regulated by exercise intervention in METH addict mice were analysed and noted.Results: The results showed that days of CPP preference was shortened to day 3 in METH addict mice given moderate exercise intervention, compared to preference to day 6 in METH addict mice without exercise. In addition, hippocampal transcriptome analysis revealed 12 DEGs significantly regulated by exercise intervention. By performing Gene ontology and KEGG analysis, function of immune responses was significant enriched in METH addiction mice with exercise. The expression of 12 differential expressed genes was verified by qRT-PCR, which showed that relative mRNA expression of DEGs was consistent with the RNA sequencing results.Conclusion: Running intervention can promote the recovery of METH addiction in mice, and the 12 candidate DEGs from mice hippocampus could use for further research on regulation mechanisms of exercise in METH addiction mice.

Correlates of anxiety and depression in a community cohort of people who smoke methamphetamine

Objective: Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health disorders experienced by Australians. These disorders are commonly found in people who use methamphetamine; however, much of this research has involved participants recruited from treatment settings who inject methamphetamine. We therefore explored (1) the prevalence of moderate to severe anxiety and depression in a community-recruited cohort who smoked methamphetamine and (2) examined potential factors associated with moderate to severe anxiety or depression in this cohort. Method: Data were derived from baseline surveys of 725 participants of the prospective ‘VMAX’ study, recruited from metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of Victoria, Australia, via snowball and respondent-driven sampling. Anxiety and depression were measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 instruments. Independent associations between moderate to severe scores on these measures and demographic, socio-economic, substance use and other health and social characteristics were examined using multivariable logistic regression. Results: More than half (60%) of the participants were classified as experiencing moderate to severe anxiety and/or depression. In the multivariable models, having poor/very poor self-rated health, methamphetamine dependence and being unemployed were associated with higher odds of experiencing both moderate to severe depression and moderate to severe anxiety. Living in a large rural town, identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and smoking methamphetamine were associated with lower odds of experiencing moderate to severe depression. Being female was associated with higher odds of experiencing moderate to severe anxiety. Conclusion: The high rates of anxiety and/or depression found in the VMAX cohort were associated with demographic, socio-economic, substance use and other health and social factors. The prevalence of moderate to severe anxiety is a novel finding that warrants further study. Further work is needed to determine how anxiety and depression change over time among people who smoke methamphetamine, to help identify key intervention points.

Association Between Alexithymia, Social Support, and Duration of Methamphetamine Use Among Male Methamphetamine-Dependent Patients

Introduction: China has 1.18 million methamphetamine abusers. Among the illegal drugs in China, methamphetamine has the highest abuse rate. Although previous studies have indicated a positive relationship between alexithymia and declining social support, the incidence of alexithymia, the total duration of methamphetamine dependence, social support, and the relationships between them among methamphetamine-dependent patients in the Chinese population have been rarely reported.Methods: A total of 113 methamphetamine-dependent patients (all male, mean age 30.45 ± 3.81 years) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. General demographic data were collected. Alexithymia and social support were measured by Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Social Support Rating Scale.Results: Duration of methamphetamine use among Chinese male methamphetamine-dependent patients in compulsory detoxification was 8.01 ± 3.80 years on average, 23% (26/113) methamphetamine-dependent patients were considered to have alexithymia personality traits. Compared with short-duration methamphetamine-dependent patients (≤8 years), long-duration methamphetamine-dependent patients (> 8 years) were characterized by older age, higher incidence of alexithymia, less subjective social support and support availability, and greater difficulty in identifying feelings. The results of correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the total duration of methamphetamine use was positively correlated with difficulty in identifying feelings, but negatively correlated with subjective social support.Conclusions: This study provides support for an association between the duration of methamphetamine use and difficulty in identifying feelings or subjective social support. Although the causality is still unclear, this finding should be considered in the psychotherapy of methamphetamine rehabilitation.