Movement disorders represent one of the less common presentations of cocaine toxicity observed in clinical practice. Given the magnitude of crack cocaine use, it is vital to understand the underlying pathogenesis. We present a case of a patient who clinically exhibited cocaine-induced choreoathetosis. The diagnosis was confirmed after ruling out all other organic causes of de novo choreoathetoi...

This study reports on the role of cocaine as effect modifier of the association of CD4+ cell counts and RNA viral load. HIV-1 seropositive (n = 80) and seronegative (n = 42) African American women (AAW) crack cocaine smokers were recruited. Increasing cocaine use, based on self-reports and laboratory values, significantly exacerbates the immunopathology of HIV-1 in a dose-response manner, confi...

An ethnographic study of women and drug use in inner city neighborhoods in Kingston, Jamaica, revealed that cannabis is commonly used in conjunction with crack cocaine to minimize the undesirable effects of crack pipe smoking, specifically paranoia and weight loss. According to 33 current or former crack using women, who were followed for a period of nine months, cannabis cigarettes (“spliffs”)...

OBJECTIVE This is a report of 50 consecutive patients with juxtapyloric perforations after smoking "crack" cocaine (cocaine base) at one urban public hospital. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Although the exact causal relation between smoking crack cocaine and a subsequent juxtapyloric perforation has not been defined, surgical services in urban public hospitals now treat significant numbers of male ...

This paper describes research on the stress-corrosion crack growth (SCCG) behavior of a new series of bioactive glasses designed to fabricate coatings on Ti and Co-Cr-based implant alloys. These glasses should provide improved implant fixation between implant and exhibit good mechanical stability in vivo. It is then important to develop an understanding of the mechanisms that control environmen...

To the longstanding cycle of poverty, disease, and despair that has afflicted several generations of Harlem residents have now been added epidemics of crack abuse, AIDS, syphilis, and pervasive violence. The community's children have been especially vulnerable to these calamities. Harlem's traditional institutions of strength, aid, and comfort--its extended families, churches, the hospital, and...

The principal routes of cocaine administration are oral, intranasal, intravenous, and inhalation. The slang terms for these routes are, respectively, "chewing," "snorting," "mainlining," "injecting," and "smoking" (including freebase and crack cocaine). Cocaine use ranges from occasional use to repeated or compulsive use, with a variety of patterns between these extremes. There is no safe way t...

Various surveys have identified a rapid increase in marijuana use during the 1990s, especially among youths. This raises a variety of questions about the future of the Nation’s drug problems. On one hand, the gateway theory posits that youthful use of alcohol and/or tobacco and marijuana tends to precede use of other illicit drugs like crack and heroin (see “The Gateway Theory”). The recent inc...

OBJECTIVE Cocaine dependence is a major international public health concern. Its chronically relapsing nature is possibly related to craving intensity, which can be influenced by diverse biological and psychological aspects. This study aimed to evaluate the role of different personality traits in craving measured throughout a psychosocial treatment program. METHOD The sample comprised 66 coca...

Crack cocaine is commonly smoked in a pipe with a metallic filter made from a steel wool scouring pad. We report an unusual complication of smoking crack cocaine: the aspiration and ingestion of a Brillo pad filter. A 34-year-old female presented 7 h after drinking beer and smoking crack. She was concerned that she might have inhaled the "screen" from her crack pipe, a piece of Brillo pad the s...