Safe from Drugs

Posts Tagged ‘drugs’

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new strategy to protect the liver from damage induced by drugs and improve drug safety. In their report, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the team reports that the inhibition of cellular communication type can protect against damage caused by toxic drugs to the liver, such as acetaminophen. “Our findings suggest that this therapy could be a clinically viable strategy for treating patients with drug-induced liver damage,” says Dr. Suraj Patel, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, author of the paper, adding that “This work also has the potential to change the way drugs are developed and formulated, which could improve drug safety by getting a lower risk of liver toxicity.”

Develop, approve and prescribe a drug requires that the therapeutic benefits outweigh the potential side effects. Liver toxicity limits the development of many therapeutic compounds, and presents major challenges for clinical medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. The drug-induced liver injury is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the U.S., and is also the most common reason for early withdrawal of certain treatments. Since there are currently no pharmaceutical strategies for the prevention of drug-induced liver injury, treatment options are limited to discontinuing the offending drug, supportive care and liver transplantation for end-stage failure.

Gap junctions (gap junctions) are hollow channels that connect neighboring cells and allow direct intercellular communication between coupled cells. In the heart, these unions propagate electrical activity necessary for contraction, but so far, its role in the liver was poorly defined. Now, this new study has shown that the sets of signals broadcast junctions immune injured liver cells to nearby cells in good condition, extending the general inflammation and injury. Read the rest of this entry »

Drug use among Spanish students 14 to 18 years has decreased in 2010 compared to previous years and this reduction is more pronounced in the case of snuff, cannabis and cocaine.

However, these three drugs are still the most consumed by the Spanish youth, according to the National Survey on Drug Use in Secondary School Students (ESTUDES) 2010, released by the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality.

Alcohol consumption shows a relatively stable trend, but three out of 10 schools recognized having been drunk in the last month.

Alcohol, snuff and inhalers are volatile drugs earlier onset (between 13 and 14 years).

Cocaine use among students recorded the lowest figures of the last decade: 3.9% say they have used the drug sometime in their life, to 2.6% did in the last year and 1.5 % last month. Read the rest of this entry »

In case of mental disorder, drug and alcohol abuse seven times increased risk of violence, indicating that health strategies aimed at reducing violence should be focused on drug prevention. People with a diagnosis of severe mental illness develop only when comorbid aggressive behavior.

Alcohol is the third among twenty-six risk factors for ill health in the European Union, beating overweight and obesity and behind only the snuff and hypertension. Several experts have analyzed the Fifteenth National Congress of Psychiatry, the relationship between alcohol and violence.

Josep Guard, Senior Consultant of Addictive Behaviour Unit of the Psychiatry of the Hospital San Pablo, Barcelona, ??and vice Socidrogalcohol, has referred to the false belief that the risk of violent behavior is higher in people with a diagnosis severe mental disorder. However, in general these patients only when they also develop aggressive acts have abused alcohol or drugs.

In the case of schizophrenia most of the risk of violence due to alcohol and drug abuse, bipolar disorder in all of the risk is due to abuse. What happens is that 60 percent of patients with TBP-1 also have drug and alcohol abuse.

In the case of psychotic disorder comorbidity with substance abuse, risk of violence is similar to that exhibited by people with and without psychotic disorder abuse.

In people with severe mental illness abuse alcohol and drugs increases to seven times the risk of violence, particularly homicide, assault, sexual assault, intimidation or arson.

The risk of homicide can be 38 percent when a paranoid psychotic disorder is associated with alcohol dependence.

The prevention of violent crime and recidivism involves the detection and diagnosis of alcohol and drug abuse and its treatment in people with severe mental disorder.

Other drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause nerve cells to release vast amounts of natural neurotransmitters or can block the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is necessary to cut the signal between neurons. This results in a greatly amplified message that ultimately disrupts normal communication patterns

Almost all drugs, directly or indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding it with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, motivation and feelings of pleasure. Typically, this system responds to natural behaviors related to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc..), But when it is overstimulated by the drug produces feelings of euphoria. This reaction initiates a pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the behavior of drug abuse.

When a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. As a result, the impact of dopamine on the reward circuit is lessened, thereby limiting the pleasure that the user is able to derive not only drugs but also of things that previously caused him pleasure. This decrease compels the addict to continue abusing drugs in an attempt to make dopamine function back to normal. However, they may now require larger amounts of drugs to raise the dopamine to normal levels early. This effect is called tolerance.

The long-term abuse causes changes in other chemical systems and circuits in the brain. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When drug abuse alters the optimal concentration of glutamate, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Drugs of abuse facilitate subconscious learning (conditioned), which makes the user feel uncontrollable desire to use drugs when you see a place or a person associated with them, even though the drug itself is not available. Imaging studies of the brain of drug addicts show changes in brain areas critical to the trial, the decision-making, learning, memory and behavior control. Taken together, these changes can cause the addict to become addicted to drugs, ie the look and compulsive use despite adverse consequences. Read the rest of this entry »

Rosalinda Morales .- The director of the Center for Youth Integration Xalapa, Sergio Mayoral Barranca, it is unwise to consider legalizing drugs, because 70 percent of consumers in Veracruz are young and make them more easily available would have to legalize to permit minors to use them.

He said that legalizing drugs, marijuana, which is the most consumed by young people, would become accessible to minors who have not yet tested. “And given the rate of drug abuse, prevention is better now find it difficult to find because it’s illegal sale, when legalized, will be on hand for all, legalize it and allow the children to consume.”

The director of the Center for Youth Integration, Sergio Mayoral Barranca, reported that the drug most used by young people in Veracruz, marijuana, amphetamines are not preferred by the Veracruz, so rank fifth in the scale of consumption. At the center reach 30 young new every month, and attend an average of 55 boys.

Of those who enter detoxification clinics, leaving 55 percent rehabilitated, the remaining 45 are not rehabilitated, or falls out immediately.

The head of Linking Crime Prevention Division of the Department of Prevention and Social Readapación, Paola Santiago Fernandez spoke of the prevention programs that are made within the criminal Veracruz said he conducted an arduous campaign of crime prevention, and first in addictions, to avoid carrying drugs to commit acts of those who afterwards repent. This campaign is present in all state prisons. Read the rest of this entry »

The drugs contain chemicals that infiltrate the brain’s communication system to disrupt the sending, receiving and processing of information between the normal nerve cells. There are at least two ways that drugs can do this: 1) mimicking the brain’s natural chemical messengers and 2) overstimulation the “reward circuit” of the brain.

Some drugs, like marijuana and heroin, have a structure similar to that of certain chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, the brain produces naturally. This similarity allows the drugs to “trick” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.

Other drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause nerve cells to release abnormally high amounts of natural neurotransmitters (especially dopamine) or can block the normal recycling of these chemicals in the brain, which is necessary to cut the sending and receiving of signals between neurons. The result is that the brain is saturated with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that control movement, emotion, motivation and feelings of pleasure. Typically, the reward system responds to natural behaviors related to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc..), But when it is overstimulated by psychoactive drugs produce euphoric effects. This reaction starts a vicious cycle of reinforcement that “teaches” people to repeat the behavior that caused abuse gratification.

When a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lower impact of dopamine on the reward circuit, which limits the pleasure that the user is able to derive not only from drugs, but also events in your life that previously caused him pleasure. This decrease in pleasure requires the addict to continue to consume drugs in an attempt to make dopamine function back to normal. However, we now need to consume a greater quantity of the drug in an attempt to elevate the role of dopamine to normal levels early. This effect is called tolerance.

The long-term abuse causes changes in other chemical systems and circuits in the brain. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When drug abuse alters the optimal concentration of glutamate, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Imaging studies of the brains of people addicted to drugs show changes in brain areas essential for the trial, decision making, learning, memory and behavior control. Taken together, these changes can cause the addict find and use drugs compulsively despite adverse consequences knowledge, and leads to devastating behavior. This is the nature of addiction.

Why do some people become addicted to drugs and others not?

No single factor determines whether someone will become addicted to drugs. The risk of contracting this disease is influenced by a combination of factors including the biological makeup of the individual, social environment and age or stage of development it is. The more risk factors you have, the greater the likelihood that the drug becomes addiction. For example: Read the rest of this entry »

Many people do not understand how or why some people become addicted to drugs. They may wrongly assume that drug users have no moral principles or sufficient will and that they could stop using drugs if they were only willing to change their behavior. In fact, addiction is a complex disease and stop using drugs does not occur with the simple intention. In fact, because drugs change the brain in a way that promotes its compulsive abuse, quitting is difficult, even for those who are willing to do so. Thanks to scientific advances, we now know much more accurately how drugs work in the brain and we know that the drug itself can be successfully treated, thus helping an addict stop using drugs and regain a productive life.

Drug abuse and addiction have negative consequences for both individuals and society. By some estimates, the total cost of substance abuse in the United States, including costs associated with lost productivity, health and crime, exceeds 600 billion dollars annually. This figure includes approximately $ 181 billion for illicit drugs, $ 1 193 billion by tabaco2 and $ 235 billion by alcohol.3 Despite how overwhelming it is these figures fail to fully address the true impact of drug abuse and drug addiction on public health, including family breakdown, job loss, failure in school, domestic violence and child abuse.

What is drug addiction?

Drug addiction is a chronic disease of the brain, often relapsing, characterized by the compulsive seeking and drug use despite harmful consequences to the addict and those around him. While it is true that the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, over time the changes occurring in the brain can affect self-control and the user’s ability to withstand intense impulses to take drugs.

Fortunately, there are treatments that help to counteract the destructive effects of the strong addiction. Research shows that the best way to ensure success for most patients is a combination of drugs to treat addiction with behavioral therapy. You can achieve a sustained recovery and a life without substance abuse using approaches designed to treat drug abuse pattern specific to each patient together with any medical, psychiatric or social concurrently.

Like many other chronic, relapsing diseases such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease, drug addiction can be treated successfully. However, like other chronic diseases, it is also common to have the addict relapses and return to drug use. These recurrences, however, does not mean failure. Rather they are a sign to be reinstated or adjusted to treatment or alternative treatment is necessary for the person to regain control and recover.