Aim To determine whether buprenorphine is more effective than clonidine and other symptomatic medications in managing ambulatory heroin withdrawal. Design Open label, prospective randomized controlled trial examining withdrawal and 4-week postwithdrawal outcomes on intention-to-treat. Setting Two specialist, out-patient drug treatment centres in inner city Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Parti...

OBJECTIVE To develop and test the validity and reliability of the Withdrawal Assessment Tool-1 for monitoring opioid and benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms in pediatric patients. DESIGN Prospective psychometric evaluation. Pediatric critical care nurses assessed eligible at-risk pediatric patients for the presence of 19 withdrawal symptoms and rated the patient's overall withdrawal intensity ...

AIM To examine the clinical course of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) withdrawal and generate management guidelines. DESIGN Review and analysis of all published reports of GHB or GHB precursor withdrawal identified from electronic searches. FINDINGS In total, 38 cases of GHB (n = 28) or GHB precursor (n = 10) withdrawal were identified, 36 of which were from the US. A rapidly deteriorating cour...

The objective of this review was to assess the benefits and risks of medication withdrawal in older people as documented in published trials of medication withdrawal. This was done by systematic review of the evidence from clinical trials of withdrawal of specific classes of medications in patient populations with a mean age of >or=65 years. We identified all relevant articles published between...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Abrupt discontinuation of nicotine, the main psychoactive component in tobacco, induces a withdrawal syndrome in nicotine-dependent animals, consisting of somatic and affective signs, avoidance of which contributes to drug maintenance. While blockade of fatty acid amide hydrolase, the primary catabolic enzyme of the endocannabinoid arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide), e...

Previous pharmacological studies have implicated serotonergic brain systems in opiate withdrawal syndrome. Increased brain 5-HT release is associated with the development of physical dependence to morphine. Specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as fluvoxamine and sertraline reduce the severity of naloxone precipitated opioid withdrawal syndrome. Other studies have shown that 5-HT system ...

In many alcoholics, the severity of withdrawal symptoms increases after repeated withdrawal episodes. This exacerbation may be attributable to a kindling process. Kindling is a phenomenon in which a weak electrical or chemical stimulus, which initially causes no overt behavioral responses, results in the appearance of behavioral effects, such as seizures, when it is administered repeatedly. Bot...

Intramammary antibiotics are registered and tested for use in dairy cattle. This study investigated withdrawal periods of three intramammary antibiotics (Curaclox LC [Norbrook Pharmacia AH]), Spectrazol Milking Cow (Schering-Plough Animal Health) and Rilexine 200 LC (Logos Agvet [Virbac]) in dairy goats and compared them to withdrawal periods recommended for use in cattle. Three trials were car...