Drug and Alcohol Services, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW. Stephen M Jurd, MB BS, FRANZCP, FAChAM, Medical Director, Area Drug and Alcohol Services, Northern Sydney Health; and Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney. Reprints: Dr S M Jurd, Drug and Alcohol Services, Royal North Shore Hospital, Herbert St, St Leonards, NSW 2065. [email protected] The Medical Journal of...

ERIC J. NESTLER and ROBERT C. MALENKA study the molecular basis of drug addiction. Nestler, professor in and chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1998. Malenka, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, joined the faculty there after...

By attempting to quit and seeking help from others, you've already taken a remarkable first step in the direction of change. For those who may be unfamiliar, methadone is a synthetic opioid drug that is commonly used to treat narcotic or opiate addiction (such as heroin). Regardless of whether you started taking methadone to treat a drug addiction, pain, or for recreational purposes, it can be ...

Objective(s):To determine the effect of acetylcholine (ACh), pilocarpine, and atropine on pain evoked responses of pain excited neurons (PEN) and pain inhibited neurons (PIN) in hippocampal CA3 region of morphine addicted rats. Materials and Methods:Female Wistar rats, weighing between 230-260 g were used in this study. Morphine addicted rats were generated by subcutaneous injection of increasi...

Bone fractures usually happen during car accident and sport trauma. Different factors influence bone healing such as malnutrition and smoking. Apart from addiction which is an important individual, social, and cultural problems morphine has several effects on body physiology and immune system .This study is performed to assess the effect of morphine dependency on bone healing and has not been r...

Units of dendritic branches called dendritic spines represent more than simply decorative appendages of the neuron and actively participate in integrative functions of "spinous" nerve cells thereby contributing to the general phenomenon of synaptic plasticity. In animal models of drug addiction, spines are profoundly affected by treatments with drugs of abuse and represent important sub cellula...

Background: Addiction is the repeated use of a chemical substance which affects the biological function of the brain and endangers physical health of the addicted person. Prevalence and pattern of taking drugs were assessed in the current study in a Special Cares Trauma Center. So the specialized physician could manage the medical procedure more easily through identification of addicted patient...