Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 2011
Dawn E Sugarman, James Poling, Mehmet Sofuoglu
Marijuana (cannabis) is the most widely used illicit substance globally, and cannabis use is associated with a range of adverse consequences. Currently, no medications have been proven to be effective for the treatment of cannabis addiction. The goals of this study were to examine the safety and efficacy of a potential treatment medication, modafinil, in combination with oral...
European Psychiatry
March 1, 2011
B. Schimmelmann, S. Kupferschmid, Philippe Conus et al.
Background: Age at onset of psychosis (AAO) may be younger in patients with cannabis use disorders (CUD) compared to those without CUD (NCUD). Most previous studies did not control for potential confounders, did not report effect sizes and included mostly adult patients from non-representative samples. Methods: Controlling for relevant confounders, differences in AAO between patients with and...
Journal of Addiction Medicine
March 2011
Rebecca D Crean, Susan F Tapert, Arpi Minassian et al.
This case describes the clinical course of a cannabis-dependent individual entering a 12-week abstinence-based research program. The case illustrates the effects of chronic, heavy cannabis use on executive functions at three time points: 1) 24 hours of abstinence; 2) 4 weeks of abstinence; and 3) 12 weeks of abstinence. It is followed by discussions by two clinical psychologists and a...
Journal of Addiction Medicine
March 2011
Rebecca D Crean, Natania A. Crane, Barbara J Mason
Cannabis use has been shown to impair cognitive functions on a number of levels-from basic motor coordination to more complex executive function tasks, such as the ability to plan, organize, solve problems, make decisions, remember, and control emotions and behavior. These deficits differ in severity depending on the quantity, recency, age of onset and duration of marijuana use. Understanding...
Current Neuropharmacology
March 2011
Fang Liu, Merle G. Paule, Syed F. Ali et al.
Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is widely used for analgesia and anesthesia in obstetric and pediatric practice. Recent reports indicate that ketamine causes neuronal cell death in developing rodents and nonhuman primates. The present study assessed the potential dose- and time-dependent neurotoxic effects and associated changes in gene expression after ketamine...
Current Neuropharmacology
March 2011
Toru Kobayashi, Daisuke Nishizawa, Kazutaka Ikeda
Addictive drugs, such as opioids, ethanol, cocaine, amphetamine, and phencyclidine (PCP), affect many functions of the nervous system and peripheral organs, resulting in severe health problems. G protein-activated inwardly rectifying K(+) (GIRK, Kir3) channels play an important role in regulating neuronal excitability through activation of various Gi/o protein-coupled receptors including opioid...
Physics of Life Reviews
March 2011
Bruce Bridgeman, Philip Tseng
Perception is interpreted as a set of capabilities that facilitate two functions necessary for survival; learning about the environment and controlling real-time behavioral interactions with it. Perceptual capabilities evolve in the context of an organism and its environment, adapted to an organism's ecological niche. The relation between embodied perception and action can be studied in the...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 2011
Tomáš Páleníček, Marie Balíková, Miroslava Rohanová et al.
Despite poisoning with the ecstasy substitute para-methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA) being typically associated with severe hyperthermia and death, behavioral and toxicological data on this drug are missing. Herein we present the behavioral profile of PMMA, its hyperthermic potency and pharmacokinetic profile in rats. The effects of PMMA 5 and 20 mg/kg on locomotion, on prepulse inhibition (PPI) of...
Configurations
March 1, 2011
Derek Risse
Reviewed by: Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noösphere Derek Risse (bio) Richard M. Doyle, Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noösphere. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011, 368 pp. $70.00 cloth, 35.00 paper. Bringing together discourses of rhetoric, information science, and the life sciences, the final text in Richard Doyle’s “Transhuman...
Current Neuropharmacology
March 1, 2011
Chiharu Sogawa, Norio Sogawa, Kazumi Ohyama et al.
50 citations
Methylone (2-methylamino-1-[3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl]propane-1-one) is a synthetic hallucinogenic amphetamine analog, like MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy- methamphetamine), considered to act on monoaminergic systems. However, the psychopharmacological profile of its cytotoxicity as a consequence of monoaminergic deficits remains unclear. We examined here the effects of methylone on the transporters...