Introduction: Addiction imposes a large medical, social and economic burden on societies. Currently, there is no effective treatment for addiction. Our struggle to decipher the different mechanisms involved in addiction requires a proper understanding of the brain regions which promote this devastating behavior. Previous studies have shown a pivotal role for insula in cigarette smoking. In this...

Opium (powdered poppy Capsules) mixed with sugars and other plant products is a popular home made remedy for colic, cough and tonics for infants and children in Baluchistan. Over a period of 7 years (1977.1983) 28 children between the ages of I month to 5 years were admitted in Civil Hospital Quetta due to opium poisoning accounting for 0.16% of all paediatric admissions during the same period....

We model the economic incentives surrounding opium crop production in Afghanistan. Specifically, we examine the impact of eradication policies when opium is used as a means of obtaining credit, and when the crops are produced in sharecropping arrangements. The analysis suggests that when perfect credit markets are available, an increased risk of eradication will lead to less land being allocate...

Background: Iran is one of the major consumers of opium and opiate substances in the world. Addiction has become a very important issue in the 21st century and an urgent one in Iran. The consumption of this substance leaves a variety of impacts on the human body. The goal of this study is to investigate the changes of the biochemical parameters derived from opiate substances in addicts during t...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of opium addiction and cigarette smoking on the complete blood count (CBC). METHODS Eighty-six male subjects, including 31 opium-addicted cigarette smokers (OACS), 19 opium-addicted non-cigarette smokers (OANCS), 17 non-opium-addicted cigarette smokers (NOACS), and 19 non-opium-addicted non-cigarette smokers (NOANCS) parti...

BACKGROUND A number of abnormalities has been identified among drug addicted users especially heroin addicts. However, there are a few studies to assess the opium effects on thyroid hormones. the aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of opium on the thyroid function tests. METHOD In this case-control, 50 male addicts, aged 20-50 years, with history of addiction to opium lastin...

BACKGROUND Opium addiction alters immune responses to stresses such as an injury due to changing the secretion of cytokines. The present study assessed the effect of opium addiction on the cytokines [tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and IL-10] before and after laparotomy. METHODS Male rats were randomly divided into control and opium addicted (n = 20...

BACKGROUND Despite some evidences about protective or triggering role of opium use in patients with coronary artery disease, the exact role of opium is still under question. The current study aimed to address the relation of opium dependence on the severity and extension of myocardial infarction (MI) and its related mortality. METHODS The study population consisted of 460 consecutive patients...

Opium is a drug being used in modern medicine as well as in homeopathy. Despite of the same source, both the pathies have different principles and indications. Opium is an alkaloid having main action on CNS. So in this study, we evaluated the effect of different dilutions of Opium in homeopathic potencies on CNS in mice and compared with that of Pentazocine. We divided forty mice of either sex ...