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Psychoactive Substances
Psychoactive substances are natural or synthetic substances that act on the central nervous system and alter mental processes such as mood, perception, cognition, consciousness, and behaviour. These substances may be legally prescribed medications (e.g., pain medications or sedatives), legally available substances such as alcohol or caffeine, or controlled or illicit drugs. Psychoactive substances can be used for medical, social, cultural, or recreational purposes, but some carry risks of misuse, dependence, and health or social harms when used in harmful ways.
Predicting Smoking Lapses in the First Week of Quitting: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study
ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study focused on lapse shortly after an attempt to quit smoking. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies have mapped real-time situational factors that induce lapses in everyday life. However, the possible...
Neurobiology of Addictions / Neurobiología de las adicciones
ABSTRACT
The proportion of drug abuse users that develop dependence does not represent the totality of users. Therefore, there is a substantial proportion of users that do not develop a substance use disorder (SUD). For example, in Mexico...
Drug Use Severity, Mortality, and Cause of Death in Primary Care Patients with Substance Use Disorders
Abstract
This article examines the association between drug use severity and mortality in primary care patients with substance use disorders. In 848 individuals with known vital status, severity was low in 32%, intermediate in 38%, or...
The Role of Adenosine Receptors in Psychostimulant Addiction
Adenosine receptors (AR) are a family of G-protein coupled receptors, comprised of four members, named A1, A2A, A2B, and A3 receptors, found widely distributed in almost all human body tissues and organs. To date, they are known to...
Effects of Prefrontal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Motivation to Quit in Tobacco Smokers
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been shown to reduce cravings in tobacco addiction; however, results have been somewhat mixed. In this study, we hypothesized that...
Associations between Substance Use and Type of Crime in Prisoners with Substance Use Problems
Aim: The present study aimed to study the associations between substance use patterns and types of crimes in prisoners with substance use problems, and specifically whether substance use patterns were different in violent offenders.
Metho...
Detecting Novel and Emerging Drug Terms Using Natural Language Processing: A Social Media Corpus Study
ABSTRACT
Background: With the rapid development of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and changes in the use of more traditional drugs, it is increasingly difficult for researchers and public health practitioners to keep up with emerging...
Morbidity and Mortality in Homeless Individuals, Prisoners, Sex Workers, and Individuals with Substance Use Disorders in High-Income Countries
Summary
Background
Inclusion health focuses on people in extremely poor health due to poverty, marginalisation, and multimorbidity. We aimed to review morbidity and mortality data on four overlapping populations who experience...
Misuse of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A Deadly New Trend
ABSTRACT
Novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) include various analogs of fentanyl and newly emerging non-fentanyl compounds. Together with illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF), these drugs have caused a recent spike in overdose deaths, whereas...
The Diverse Reasons for Using Novel Psychoactive Substances
Abstract
Background
The increasing number of legally ambiguous and precarious Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) constitutes a challenge for policy makers and public health. Scientific and more in-depth knowledge about the motivations...
Gender Differences in Substance Use and Psychiatric Distress among Medical Students
ABSTRACT
Background: Medical student wellness has emerged as an important issue in medical education. The purpose of the present study was to obtain a comprehensive assessment of substance use, psychological distress, and help-seeking...
Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor Controls Neural and Behavioral Plasticity in Response to Cocaine
Cocaine addiction is characterized by dysfunction in reward-related brain circuits, leading to maladaptive motivation to seek and take the drug. There are currently no clinically available pharmacotherapies to treat cocaine addiction...
Most-Read Knowledge Share Articles of 2017
Here is a selection of the most-read Knowledge Share articles of 2017. These are the articles that captivated our members most.
Psychological Distress, Family Functioning and Use of Psychoactive Substances in Administrative Workers of an Institution of Higher Education in Nicaragua
Alinka Patricia Avendaño Balladares
Introduction: Professionals in the field of mental health and addictions try to identify situations that cause psychoactive substances use in the population, especially the working population, due to...
Quality Measurers of Therapeutic Communities for Substance Dependence
Abstract
Background
In Latin America, substance related disorders are highly prevalent and one of the treatment strategies is the Therapeutic Communities (TCs), however, in Latin America there is scarce data about this treatment...
Chapter 18 – Drug Addictions and Genetics of the Dopamine Pathway
Abstract
Drug addiction refers to a broad phenotype, encompassing behavioral, cognitive, and biological (including genetic) substrates. Twin studies have estimated the heritability of drug addiction between 30% and 60%. Dopamine has a...
Identifying and Treating Patients Who Use Tobacco
'Million Hearts' is an initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by promoting evidence-based intervention through communities, health systems, non-profit...
Reviewing Inclusion Health: An Intervention Programme for At-Risk Populations
Inclusion Health is a framework for action that helps find ways of improving the health and well-being for socially excluded groups. These populations, who have in common adverse life experiences and risk factors, such as poverty and...
Keeping Youth Drug Free
Keeping Youth Drug Free is a new publication from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Aimed at parents, the guide offers advice for keeping children substance-free. It includes a review of the latest...
Health and Social Responses to Drug Problems: A European Guide
Health and social responses to drug problems: a European guide is a new publication from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Included alongside the guide is a set of online materials. Together these provide...
