BACKGROUND Previous studies from North America, Europe and Australia have reported high levels of benzodiazepine use among opiate-dependent patients in opiate maintenance treatment. However, to date, there are no available data on patterns of abuse and dependence on benzodiazepines according to DSM criteria among these patients. AIMS To describe the independent correlates of use, abuse and de...

Benzodiazepine site agonists modulate the firing pattern of neurons via GABAA receptors and by that influence the activity of the network in which they participate and cause appropriate changes in behaviour. Since the amygdala is involved in regulating anxiety, it can be expected that GABAA receptors located in this brain region contribute to the anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepine site agonis...

BACKGROUND The relationship between bed days and benzodiazepine prescription (BDZ) in Western countries is inconclusive, and no hospital-based report has documented this phenomenon in Japan. This study was done to assess the association between bed days and BDZ in a Japanese hospital. METHODS 21,489 adult patients (55.1% men, mean age 59.9 years old) hospitalized between April, 2005 and Decem...

The prevalence of benzodiazepine consumption in Japan is one of the highest worldwide. Etizolam is the most abused drug of the benzodiazepine class. The treatment of benzodiazepine dependence is difficult. We report a case of successful dosage reduction in a 24-year-old female patient with etizolam dependence. She was diagnosed with etizolam dependence at the age of 22 years old. We proposed a ...

Previous studies have indicated that the benzodiazepine receptor complex is involved in enhancing taste palatability after chlordiazepoxide (CDP) administration. Positive, palatability-dependent ingestive reactions elicited by orally infused tastes are facilitated in rats by CDP (10 mg/kg), and this effect is reversible by benzodiazepine antagonists. In contrast, the rats' more neutral or avers...

Delivery of cholesterol to inner mitochondrial membranes is rate-limiting for steroidogenesis in the zona fasciculata of adrenal cortex. A protein that stimulates this process was isolated to homogeneity from bovine adrenal tissue. This protein's primary structure has been determined in its entirety by a combination of automated Edman microsequencing, fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FA...

While experts recommend caution against long-term benzodiazepine use in the elderly, survey data suggests that the use of benzodiazepine increase with age. The patterns of benzodiazepine use and factors associated with long-term use in population at risk were studied with a standarlized questionnaire applied to 634 women over 60, who attended a daycare center for older people in Rio de Janeiro ...

ObjectiveThe primary objective of our study was to explore older adults’ willingness stop or lower the dose frequency their chronic benzodiazepine with long-term goal developing a patient-centered intervention support adults during deprescribing process.MethodsWe conducted semistructured interviews aged 60 years and who reported taking for at least 3 months. We recruited participants using inst...

To describe ictal catatonia as a manifestation of de novo absence status epilepticus following benzodiazepine withdrawal. Ictal catatonia was documented by concurrent EEG recordings. A catatonic syndrome, first diagnosed as a psychogenic reaction, was found to be an ictal event by EEG recording. De novo absence status and benzodiazepine withdrawal should be considered when a catatonic syndrome ...