Ketamine Is Associated With Lower Urinary Tract Signs and Symptoms.
Ketamine is associated with lower urinary tract signs and symptoms.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Mar 6;
Pal R, Balt S, Erowid E, Erowid F, Baggott MJ, Mendelson J, Galloway GP
BACKGROUND: Case reports and series indicate that ketamine, an anesthetic agent, causes lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). This study explored whether ketamine users were more likely to report LUTS compared to other substance users. METHODS: Participants were recruited through an online survey on erowid.org, a drug information website. A notice posted on the website invited substance users to participate in a web-based survey on “drug use and health”. The notice did not mention ketamine, or other aspects of the research questions, to avoid participation bias. The anonymous survey collected demographics, drug use history, and history of LUTS (urinary frequency, urgency, incontinence, hematuria, and dysuria). RESULTS: Of 18,802 participants, 18.7% and 5.8% reported ever (lifetime) and recent (past-6-month) use of ketamine, respectively. Prevalence of LUTS among ever, recent, and never users of ketamine were 28%, 30%, and 24% respectively. Multivariate analysis showed significant associations between recent ketamine use and urinary symptoms. For each additional day of ketamine use in the last 180 days, the odds of developing urinary frequency, urgency, dysuria, and hematuria increased by 1.6%, 1.4%, 1.7%, and 1.9% respectively. One excess case of urinary frequency was reported per 17 recent users of ketamine. CONCLUSION: Compared to non-users, recent ketamine users had increased odds of LUTS. This is the first large-scale community-based study assessing the association of non-medical ketamine use with LUTS. Associations between ketamine and urological symptoms should be confirmed through longitudinal studies. HubMed – addiction
Association between having no sons and using no contraception among a nationally representative sample of young wives in Nepal.
Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2013 Mar 6;
Raj A, Vilms RJ, McDougal L, Silverman JG
OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a lack of sons predicts non-use of contraception among young wives in Nepal. METHODS: Data were obtained from married females aged 15-24years who participated in the Nepal 2011 Demographic and Health Survey (n=2439). Multivariate models were used to test predictions of modern contraception use with the following variables: having no sons, social inequities (wealth, education, rural residence, and caste), gender inequities (early age at marriage, spousal age, and education gaps), respondent age, parity, and geographic region. RESULTS: Most wives (79%) reported using no modern contraception. Non-use was more likely among those with no living sons (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-2.2), and those who married as a minor (AOR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.02-1.9) and/or resided in a rural area (AOR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.3-2.5). Having no daughters was negatively associated with non-use of contraception (AOR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5-0.9). CONCLUSION: Contraception use is not common among young wives in Nepal. It is, however, more likely among wives with sons and less likely among wives with daughters, demonstrating that son preference continues to affect contraception use among the next generation of mothers in Nepal. HubMed – addiction
Dual role of nicotine in addiction and cognition: A review of neuroimaging studies in humans.
Neuropharmacology. 2013 Mar 6;
Jasinska AJ, Zorick T, Brody AL, Stein EA
Substantial evidence demonstrates both nicotine’s addiction liability and its cognition-enhancing effects. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying nicotine’s impact on brain function and behavior remain incompletely understood. Elucidation of these mechanisms is of high clinical importance and may lead to improved therapeutics for smoking cessation as well as for a number of cognitive disorders such as schizophrenia. Neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which make it possible to study the actions of nicotine in the human brain in vivo, play an increasingly important role in identifying these dual mechanisms of action. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge and discuss outstanding questions and future directions in human neuroimaging research on nicotine and tobacco. This research spans from receptor-level PET and SPECT studies demonstrating nicotine occupancy at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and upregulation of nAChRs induced by chronic smoking; through nicotine’s interactions with the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system believed to mediate nicotine’s reinforcing effects leading to dependence; to functional activity and connectivity fMRI studies documenting nicotine’s complex behavioral and cognitive effects manifest by its actions on large-scale brain networks engaged both during task performance and at rest. HubMed – addiction
Intact inhibitory control processes in abstinent drug abusers (I): A functional neuroimaging study in former cocaine addicts.
Neuropharmacology. 2013 Mar 6;
Bell RP, Foxe JJ, Ross LA, Garavan H
Neuroimaging studies in current cocaine dependent (CD) individuals consistently reveal cortical hypoactivity across regions of the response inhibition circuit (RIC). Dysregulation of this critical executive network is hypothesized to account for the lack of inhibitory control that is a hallmark of the addictive phenotype, and chronic abuse is believed to compound the issue. A crucial question is whether deficits in this circuit persist after drug cessation, and whether recovery of this system will be seen after extended periods of abstinence, a question with implications for treatment course and outcome. Utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined activation in nodes of the RIC in abstinent CD individuals (n=27) and non-using controls (n=45) while they performed a motor response inhibition task. In contrast to current users, these abstinent individuals, despite extended histories of chronic cocaine-abuse (average duration of use = 8.2 years), performed the task just as efficiently as non-users. In line with these behavioral findings, no evidence for between-group differences in activation of the RIC was found and instead, robust activations were apparent in both groups within the well-characterized nodes of the RIC. Similarly, our complementary Electroencephalography (EEG) investigation also showed an absence of behavioral and electrophysiological deficits in abstinent drug abusers. These results are consistent with an amelioration of neurobiological deficits in inhibitory circuitry following drug cessation, and could help explain how long-term abstinence is maintained. Finally, regression analyses revealed a significant association between level of activation in the right insula with inhibition success and increased abstinence duration in the CD cohort suggesting that this region may be integral to successful recovery from cocaine addiction. HubMed – addiction
The Crhr1 Gene, Trauma Exposure, And Alcoholism Risk: A Test Of G × E Effects.
Genes Brain Behav. 2013 Mar 8;
Ray LA, Sehl M, Bujarski S, Hutchison K, Blaine S, Enoch MA
BACKGROUND: The corticotropin-releasing hormone type I receptor (CRHR1) gene has been implicated in the liability for neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly under conditions of stress. Based on the hypothesized effects of CRHR1 variation on stress reactivity, measures of adulthood traumatic stress exposure were analyzed for their interaction with CRHR1 haplotypes and SNPs in predicting the risk for alcoholism. METHOD: Phenotypic data on 2,533 non-related Caucasian individuals (1167 alcoholics and 1366 controls) were culled from the publically available Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE) genome-wide association study (GWAS). Genotypes were available for 19 tag SNPs. Logistic regression models examined the interaction between CRHR1 haplotypes / SNPs and adulthood traumatic stress exposure in predicting alcoholism risk. RESULTS: Two haplotype blocks spanned CRHR1. Haplotype analyses identified one haplotype in the proximal block 1 (p = 0.029) and two haplotypes in the distal block 2 (p = 0.026, 0.042) that showed nominally significant (corrected p < .025) genotype × traumatic stress interactive effects on the likelihood of developing alcoholism. The block 1 haplotype effect was driven by SNPs rs110402 (p = 0.019) and rs242924 (p = 0.019). In block 2, rs17689966 (p = 0.018) showed significant, and rs173365 (p = 0.026) showed nominally significant, gene × environment (G x E) effects on alcoholism status. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends the literature on the interplay between CRHR1 variation and alcoholism, in the context of exposure to traumatic stress. These findings are consistent with the hypothesized role of the extra hypothalamic CRF system dysregulation in the initiation and maintenance of alcoholism. Molecular and experimental studies are needed to more fully understand the mechanisms of risk and protection conferred by genetic variation at the identified loci. HubMed – addiction
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