Cocaine and heroin often are abused together in a combination known as a "speedball," but relatively little is known about ways in which cocaine and heroin may interact to modify each other's abuse-related effects. The present study evaluated the discriminative stimulus effects of a speedball combination of cocaine and heroin. Three rhesus monkeys were trained to discriminate vehicle from a 10:...

BACKGROUND CD56(+) T cells are abundant in liver and play an important role in host innate immunity against viral infections, including hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, a common infection among heroin abusers. We thus investigated the in vivo impact of heroin use or heroin use plus HCV infection on the CD56(+) T cell frequency and function. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A total of 37 heroi...

Intravenous heroin intake leads to significant morphological changes in the liver tissue (vesicular changes, fatty changes, chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis). The intensity of these changes increases with the duration of heroin use. Direct hepatotoxic effects of heroin are vesicular changes in hepatocytes, fatty changes are the result of chronic influence of alcohol, whereas the rest of the morp...

Structure and function are closely related in the healthy human brain. In patients with chronic heroin exposure, brain imaging studies have identified long-lasting changes in gray matter (GM) volume. More recently, we showed that acute application of heroin in dependent patients results in hypoperfusion of fronto-temporal areas compared with the placebo condition. However, the relationship betw...

BACKGROUND Multiple substance use is a common problem among heroin users. This study aims to describe patterns of multiple substance use one year before and during attendance at methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programs and associated variables of continued heroin use in MMT clinics in Yunnan, China. METHODS The study was conducted among 168 heroin addicts who had received treatment for ...

Background: Opioid peptides and their receptors are present in the majority of body tissues including gastrointestinal tract.  Heroin is one of the opioid derivatives that abuse increasingly today.  So far, there is no study on the effect of acute heroin administration on gastric acid and pepsin secretion. Objective:  To define the effect of the acute heroin consumption on basal and vagal-stimu...

Importance Heroin use is an urgent concern in the United States. Little is know about the course of heroin use, heroin use disorder, and associated factors. Objective To examine changes in the lifetime prevalence, patterns, and associated demographics of heroin use and use disorder from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013 in 2 nationally representative samples of the US adult general population. Design,...

BACKGROUND Little is known about differences between the characteristics and psychopathological symptoms of heroin users attending TC or MMT in Asia. This study aimed to compare characteristics and prevalence of depressive disorders among male heroin users in TC and MMT program in Nantou, Taiwan. METHODS The study sample (n = 705) comprised male heroin users with heroin dependence recruited f...

Heroin dependence is a chronic relapsing brain disorder, characterized by the compulsion to seek and use heroin. Heroin itself has a strong potential to produce subjective experiences characterized by intense euphoria, relaxation and release from craving. The neurofunctional foundations of these perceived effects are not well known. In this study, we have used pharmacological magnetic resonance...

BACKGROUND This study examined longitudinal patterns of heroin use, other substance use, health, mental health, employment, criminal involvement, and mortality among heroin addicts. METHODS The sample was composed of 581 male heroin addicts admitted to the California Civil Addict Program (CAP) during the years 1962 through 1964; CAP was a compulsory drug treatment program for heroin-dependent...