Pain Is Associated With Heroin Use Over Time in HIV-Infected Russian Drinkers.
Pain is Associated with Heroin Use over Time in HIV-Infected Russian Drinkers.
Addiction. 2013 Jun 17;
Tsui JI, Cheng DM, Coleman SM, Blokhina E, Bridden C, Krupitsky E, Samet JH
AIMS: To evaluate whether pain was associated with increased risk of using heroin, stimulants or cannabis among HIV-infected drinkers in Russia. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the HERMITAGE study, a behavioral randomized controlled trial, with data collected at baseline, 6 month and 12 month visits. SETTING: Recruitment occurred at HIV and addiction treatment sites in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. PARTICIPANTS: Six-hundred and ninety-nine HIV-infected adult drinkers. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was past month illicit drug use; secondary outcomes examined each drug (heroin, stimulants and cannabis) separately. The main predictor was pain that at least moderately interfered with daily living. General estimating equations (GEE) logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between pain and subsequent illicit drug use adjusting for potential confounders. FINDINGS: Participants reporting pain appeared to have higher odds of using illicit drugs, although the results did not reach statistical significance (adjusted Odds Ratio [OR]=1.32; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.76, p=0.06). There was a significant association between pain and heroin use (OR=1.54; 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.15, p=0.01) but not use of other drugs (OR=0.75; 95% CI: 0.40 to 1.40, p=0.35 for stimulants and OR=0.70; 95% CI: 0.45 to 1.07, p=0.09 for cannabis). CONCLUSIONS: HIV-infected Russian drinkers who report pain are more likely to use heroin over time than HIV-infected Russian drinkers who do not report pain. Pain may be an unrecognized risk factor for persistent heroin use with implications for HIV transmission in Russia. HubMed – addiction
[New insights into the role of pholcodine in the treatment of cough in 2013?].
Therapie. 2013 Mar-Apr; 68(2): 85-91
Blanchard E, Tunon de Lara M
Pholcodine is an opioid that has been widely used worldwide since 1950 for the treatment of non-productive cough in children and adults. The results of early preclinical studies but also those of recent clinical trials have shown the antitussive efficacy of pholcodine to be superior to that of codeine, of longer duration, and with an equivalent or safer toxicity profile. Also, there is no risk of addiction. Concern had been raised over a possible cross-sensitisation with neuromuscular blocking agents. While a recent assessment of the available data by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has confirmed the favourable risk-benefit ratio of pholcodine, further studies are needed to clear this point. HubMed – addiction
Sensitivity and Specificity of A Procedure for Early Human Screening of Novel Smoking Cessation Medications.
Addiction. 2013 Jun 17;
Perkins KA, Lerman C, Karelitz JL, Jao NC, Chengappa KN, Sparks GM
BACKGROUND AND AIM: It is important to find economical methods in early Phase 2 studies to screen drugs potentially useful to aid smoking cessation. A method has been developed that detects efficacy of varenicline and nicotine patch. This study aimed to evaluate whether the method would detect efficacy of bupropion and correctly identify lack of efficacy of modafinil. DESIGN: Using a within-subject double crossover design, smokers attempted to quit during each treatment, with bupropion (150 mg b.i.d.), modafinil (100 mg b.i.d.), or placebo (double-blind, counter-balanced order). In each of three medication periods, all smoked with no drug on week 1 (baseline or washout), began dose run-up on week 2, and tried to quit every day during week 3. SETTING: A university research center in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-five adult smokers high in quit interest. MEASUREMENTS: Abstinence was verified daily each quit week by self-report of no smoking over the prior 24 hr and CO<5 ppm. FINDINGS: Compared with placebo, bupropion did (F(1,44)=6.98, p=.01), but modafinil did not (F(1,44)=.29, p=.60), increase the number of abstinent days. Also, bupropion (versus placebo) significantly increased the number of those able to maintain continuous abstinence on all 5 days throughout the quit week (11 vs 4), Z= 2.11, p <.05, while modafinil did not (6). CONCLUSIONS: Assessing days abstinent during 1 week of use of medication versus placebo in a cross-over design could be a useful early Phase 2 study design for discriminating between medications useful vs not useful in aiding smoking cessation. HubMed – addiction
Antibody gene therapy: getting closer to clinical application?
Curr Gene Ther. 2013 Jun 13;
Muñoz IG, Compte M, Vallina LA, Sanz L
Monoclonal antibodies are successfully used in the clinic. However, repeated high-dose bolus injections imply high costs. As an alternative to recombinant protein administrations, gene therapy may provide a novel mean for systemic delivery of monoclonal antibodies. This strategy has been used in preclinical studies of a wide variety of pathological conditions, including cancer, infectious diseases, drug addiction, retinal neovascularisation and Alzheimer´s disease. The two main gene therapy approaches are based on direct gene delivery (using viral or non-viral vectors) or on inoculation of ex vivo genetically modified cells (autologous or allogenic). Viral vectors are highly efficient as gene delivery vehicles and have been tested in numerous clinical trials, but still raise concerns about safety and limitation of the therapeutic effect due to immune responses against viral antigens. On the other hand, use of standard non-viral vectors has been limited by their low transduction efficiency. Practical application of ex vivo genetically modified cells would imply the availability of stocks of “ready-to-use” gene-modified allogenic cells that should be protected from the host immune system. Actually, this field did not meet the expectation raised initially, mainly because of difficulties with obtaining sustained therapeutic plasma levels in animal models. However, this situation is changing rapidly and the therapeutic potential of these approaches is getting closer to clinical applications. This review focuses on the current achievements in preclinical studies, as well as the challenges and future prospects of antibody gene therapy. HubMed – addiction
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