Addiction & Health
Volume:11 Issue: 2, Spring 2019

Chronic usage of morphine elicits the production of inflammatory factors by glial cells andinduces neuroinflammation. Ginger (Zingiber Officinale Roscoe) is a medicinal herb that has antiinflammatory properties. It has been reported that ginger shows anti-addictive effects against chronic usageof morphine; however, its influence on morphine-induced neuroinflammation has not yet been clarified. Morphine (12 mg/kg) was administrated intraperitoneally for 6 consecutive days. To evaluate theeffect of ginger on morphine-induced neuroinflammation, ginger extract (100 mg/kg) was given orally 30minutes before morphine. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(p38 MAPK) levels were assayed by immunoblotting in the rat nucleus accumbens (NAcc). The injection of chronic morphine increased the levels of proteins involved in neuroinflammation(p38 MAPK and GFAP) in NAcc. Furthermore, the levels of p38 MAPK and GFAP significantly returned tothe control levels by ginger extract. The results suggest that the ginger extract can reduce morphine-induced neuroinflammation in NAcc.

Psychological stress is associated with unhealthy lifestyles, including smoking. Moreover, religiousbeliefs can play a significant role in relieving mental disorders such as anxiety and stress. Due to the frequentexposure of medical students to stressful situations, this study was conducted with the aim to investigate therelationship of internal and external religious orientation with perceived stress and nicotine dependence. This correlational study was carried out on medical students of Kerman University of MedicalSciences, Kerman, Iran, in 2015. The sample size was determined to be 224 individuals using the Morgantable. The participants were selected using stratified random sampling. The data collection tools consisted ofa demographic information form, the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) (Allport and Ross), the PerceivedStress Scale (PSS-14), and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Data were analyzed usingmultiple regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficient, and t-test inSPSS software. The findings of the study showed that internal religious orientation had a significant negativerelationship with perceived stress and nicotine dependence; however, no significant relationship wasobserved between external religious orientation and these variables. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the religious beliefs of individuals havea preventive role in perceived stress and nicotine dependence.

Drug abuse is one of the main problems of human's life; thus communities have been thinkingabout the solution of this problem. The present study aimed to compare the general features of drug abusetreatment policies, war on drugs (WOD), and harm reduction (HR), in the selected countries. The present study was a comparative and desk research that sought to compare context,stewardship, financing, type of substance abuse treatment services, reasons of paradigm shift, and executivechallenges of treatment policies in the selected countries (China, Malaysia, Germany, Netherland, and Iran).The necessary data for comparison of the countries were collected through valid databases, review ofdocuments, and reports of international organizations. Context conditions were better in the HR countries. In most countries, the central governmentplayed a key role in the stewardship, financing, and service providing. In WOD countries, the presence ofjudicial structure was higher in the treatment of drug abuse. The policy-making approach was ideological inWOD countries, but evidence-based in HR countries. It seems that performance of HR countries is better than WOD countries.

Apelin has recently been considered as an adipokine secreted from visceral fat. Apelin and itsreceptor exist in many tissues including lung and play significant roles in many physiological andpathological activities. However, serum level of apelin-12 is unknown in smokers and in various types of lungmalignancies. Therefore, the amount of this hormone in non-patient smokers and the correlation of apelinserum level with the types of lung cancer in smokers afflicted with lung cancer are evaluated in this study. The amount of serum apelin-12 was measured in 63 patients (59 smokers and 4 non-smokers) withthe variety of lung cancer and 61 age- and sex-matched controls (30 smokers and 31 non-smokers) usingenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The amount of serum apelin-12 in non-patient smokers (2142.20 ± 843.61 ng/l) was significantlyhigher than healthy non-smokers (800.39 ± 336.01 ng/l, P < 0.05), and in the variety of lung malignancies,the amount of serum apelin-12 was 2205.54 ± 187.31 ng/l in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)which was a significant increase compared to 1088.00 ± 136.52 ng/l in adenocarcinoma, 797.25 ± 88.69 ng/lin small cell carcinoma, and 1000.37 ± 62.87 ng/l in other malignancies of lung. The meaningful increase in apelin-12 levels of non-patient smokers can be considered as a riskfactor for outbreaking of lung SCC in these people. Therefore, apelin-12 may be considered as a target incontrolling lung SCC.

There is an increasing popularity of waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) in youth and even inathletes worldwide. Despite the existence of evidence of the harmful effects of hookah smoke on varioussystems of the body, especially the cardiovascular system, its simultaneous effect with exercise training hasnot been well studied. We assessed the effects of WTS exposure with/without swimming exercise on bloodpressure (BP), and heart histology and mechanical performance in male Wistar rats. The animals were divided into 4 groups of sedentary control (CTL), waterpipe tobacco smoking (S),mild endurance swimming exercise training (Ex), and waterpipe smoking plus exercise (S + Ex). Theduration of WTS and exercise was 8 weeks. BP and heart rate (HR) did not show a significant difference among the groups. WTS increased theTNF-α level of the heart (P < 0.05 vs. CTL) and cardiac tissue lesions (P < 0.05 vs. CTL), and reduced +dP/dtmax, -dp/dt max, and heart contractility indices (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, and P < 0.05, respectively, vs. CTL andEx groups). It also increased the Tau index (P < 0.05 vs. CTL; P < 0.01 vs. Ex groups) of the left ventricle.However, the combination of exercise and WTS reduced the TNF-α level, improved the heart activity ofsuperoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase enzymes, and prevented the negative effects of smoking on heartfunction and morphology. Mild exercise prevents WTS-induced left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction partly viaimprovement of antioxidants and attenuation of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Gambling disorder (GD) and substance use disorder (SUD) have mutual impact and each couldaggravate the effects of the other. This is the first study on GD among Iranian substance users to develop andvalidate a GD Screening Questionnaire-Persian (GDSQ-P). Iranian male adults (n = 503) with SUDs were recruited via clustered sampling. Problem gamblingscreening instruments and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th Edition (DSM-5)criteria for GD were used to develop the tool which was sequentially assessed for face validity, contentvalidity index (CVI), content validity ratio (CVR), and reliability (Kuder-Richardson coefficient). To establishconstruct validity, interviews based on DSM-5 as a gold standard method were used. A receiver operatingcharacteristic (ROC) curve was conducted to determine sensitivity and specificity. After removing items with low CVI values, 27 final items remained in GDSQ-P with impact scoregreater than 1.5. Card games (33.8%), dice gambling methods (26.6%), betting on sports teams and players(24.1%), and betting on horseback, rooster, pigeon, dog, or other animals (16.7%) were common gamblingmethods among participants. Overall Kuder-Richardson coefficient was 0.95. Cut-off threshold for GDSQ-Pwas calculated as 4.5 with 98.9% sensitivity and 98.3% specificity. The interviewers confirmed GD forparticipants based on DSM-5 as the gold standard. The prevalence of GD among participants was 17.9%based on GDSQ-P and 19.1% based on DSM-5 criteria. GDSQ-P is a valid and reliable tool to screen for GD in SUD treatment centers and probably inthe general population.

Opioid use disorder is a major concern to public health, and opioid maintenance treatment onmethadone or buprenorphine is a widely used approach. On the other hand, in recent years, there has beenmore regards for the use of opium tincture for detoxification and maintenance treatment of opioiddependence in certain parts of the world. The purpose of our research was to compare sexual impairments ofmethadone maintenance treatment (MMT), buprenorphine maintenance treatment (BMT), and opiumtincture maintenance treatment (OMT) in patients. The study sample consisted of opium-addicted men candidates for maintenance treatment in anaddiction quitting clinic in Tehran, Iran, from November 2017 to February 2018. Participants (n = 84) wererandomly assigned to three groups (of the equal number), receiving either methadone tablet, buprenorphinesublingual tablet, and opium tincture. The average score for sexual function was evaluated using the ArizonaSexual Experiences Scale (ASEX) at the beginning and after 3 months after treatment. Although there was no significant different in ASEX scores between the groups at the beginningand end of the study (P > 0.05), but the difference was significant in each group in comparing by themselves. These results showed that sexual dysfunction became better after opioid substitution therapies,and no differences were observed on sexual dysfunction between the three groups

In the early decades of the 20th century, discussions regarding alcohol were dominantly directed toward itstherapeutic uses, but authorities now state that any level of alcohol consumption poses negative effects onhealth. Over recent months, increased attention has been devoted to disease burdens attributable to alcoholuse worldwide. As more and more studies are conducted to illuminate the harmful effects of alcohol ondifferent body systems, the mounting evidence generated requires documentation and publication. Thecurrent review was aimed at providing an overview of the recent literature on the adverse consequences ofalcohol consumption.