Tobacco in adolescence: importance to knowledge the health hazards and preventive measures

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A influência de Georg Simmel no pensamento social de Ulrich Beck: pela compreensão do conflito no individualismo e nos processos de individualização

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

O ofuscamento da infância no brilho das telas: relações entre teoria crítica, educação e sociedade

Pós-graduação em Educação Escolar - FCLAR

Avaliação de contaminação com óleo diesel por meio dos métodos de Eletrorresistividade e Polarização Induzida em Santa Ernestina-SP

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação do uso de medicamentos psicotrópicos pelos pacientes de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde de um município de pequeno porte do Estado de São Paulo

Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva - FMB

Produção de amilases de Rhizopus microsporus var. oligosporus e hidrólise enzimática do bagaço de mandioca visando a produção de etanol por Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Sensibilização comportamental ao etanol e neuroadaptações envolvendo a proteína (DELTA)FOSB: efeitos do tratamento com N-Acetilcisteína em camundongos

Pharmacological treatments currently used in ethanol addiction are inefficient, requiring new drugs for this purpose. The pro-drug N-Acetylcysteine (N-Ac) has shown efficacy in the treatment of addiction to cocaine and nicotine in preclinical research and clinical pilot studies. When administered, N-Ac is subsequently converted to cysteine, and cystine, which has an action on the central nervous system. However, there are few data about the possible application of N-Ac in the ethanol addiction. Behavioral sensitization is the gradual increase of the psychostimulant effects induced by repeated administration of drugs of abuse, including ethanol, and its development has been linked to important neuroadaptations in addiction. These neuroadaptations occur in neural circuits that mediate the reinforcing properties of these drugs and may involve several proteins. The ΔFosB protein accumulates in neurons after repeated activation and mediates long lasting changes in response to drugs of abuse. These changes are manifested mainly in the nucleus accumbens (Acb) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of N-Ac treatment in the development of ethanol behavioral sensitization and in alterations in the ΔFosB protein in mice. Swiss male mice were exposed to a standardized behavioral sensitization protocol to the experimental conditions of the laboratory and treated with N-Ac. At the end of behavioral sensitization procedure, animals were euthanized and their brains removed for ΔFosB quantification by Western blotting. Two experiments of behavioral sensitization were performed to the standardization of the protocol. The first, although effective in demonstrating the development of behavioral sensitization, was not effective in allowing the evaluation of the expression of the behavioral sensitization. The age of the animals and the conditions of luminosity and color of locomotion apparatus were changed and a new...

Produção de amilases de Rhizopus microsporus var. oligosporus e hidrólise enzimática do bagaço de mandioca visando a produção de etanol por Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Sensibilização comportamental ao etanol e neuroadaptações envolvendo a proteína (DELTA)FOSB: efeitos do tratamento com N-Acetilcisteína em camundongos

Pharmacological treatments currently used in ethanol addiction are inefficient, requiring new drugs for this purpose. The pro-drug N-Acetylcysteine (N-Ac) has shown efficacy in the treatment of addiction to cocaine and nicotine in preclinical research and clinical pilot studies. When administered, N-Ac is subsequently converted to cysteine, and cystine, which has an action on the central nervous system. However, there are few data about the possible application of N-Ac in the ethanol addiction. Behavioral sensitization is the gradual increase of the psychostimulant effects induced by repeated administration of drugs of abuse, including ethanol, and its development has been linked to important neuroadaptations in addiction. These neuroadaptations occur in neural circuits that mediate the reinforcing properties of these drugs and may involve several proteins. The ΔFosB protein accumulates in neurons after repeated activation and mediates long lasting changes in response to drugs of abuse. These changes are manifested mainly in the nucleus accumbens (Acb) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of N-Ac treatment in the development of ethanol behavioral sensitization and in alterations in the ΔFosB protein in mice. Swiss male mice were exposed to a standardized behavioral sensitization protocol to the experimental conditions of the laboratory and treated with N-Ac. At the end of behavioral sensitization procedure, animals were euthanized and their brains removed for ΔFosB quantification by Western blotting. Two experiments of behavioral sensitization were performed to the standardization of the protocol. The first, although effective in demonstrating the development of behavioral sensitization, was not effective in allowing the evaluation of the expression of the behavioral sensitization. The age of the animals and the conditions of luminosity and color of locomotion apparatus were changed and a new...

Diethylpropion produces psychostimulant and reward effects

Diethylpropion (DEP) is a stimulant drug widely used for weight control in Brazil and other American countries. However, its effects on behavior and addiction potential are not yet well known. Data suggest that sensitization resulting from pre-exposure to psychostimulants could be a possible risk factor in subsequent drug addiction. The purpose of this investigation was to verify whether pre-exposure to DEP would sensitize rats to the motor activating effect and to the rewarding value of DEP. Two experiments were conducted. In both experiments rats were pre-exposed to DEP (20 mg/kg) or vehicle for 7 consecutive days. The acute effect of DEP (0.0, 1.0, 2.5 or 5.0 mg/kg) on motor activity (Experiment 1) and induction of Conditioned Place Preference-CPP (Experiment 2) were then measured. Results from Experiment 1 showed that 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg DEP increased motor activity. Sensitization of this motor effect was observed. In Experiment 2, the doses of 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg DEP induced CPP, indicating their rewarding value. However, no sensitization effect was observed. The results suggest that DEP at low doses has psychostimulant and rewarding properties. It is recommended that more effort should be dedicated to elucidating DEP abuse Potential. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Compulsive features in behavioural addictions: the case of pathological gambling

Aims To describe, in the context of DSM-V, how a focus on addiction and compulsion is emerging in the consideration of pathological gambling (PG). Methods A systematic literature review of evidence for the proposed re-classification of PG as an addiction. Results Findings include: (i) phenomenological models of addiction highlighting a motivational shift from impulsivity to compulsivity associated with a protracted withdrawal syndrome and blurring of the ego-syntonic/ego-dystonic dichotomy; (ii) common neurotransmitter (dopamine, serotonin) contributions to PG and substance use disorders (SUDs); (iii) neuroimaging support for shared neurocircuitries between behavioural and substance addictions and differences between obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD), impulse control disorders (ICDs) and SUDs; (iv) genetic findings more closely related to endophenotypic constructs such as compulsivity and impulsivity than to psychiatric disorders; (v) psychological measures such as harm avoidance identifying a closer association between SUDs and PG than with OCD; (vi) community and pharmacotherapeutic trials data supporting a closer association between SUDs and PG than with OCD. Adapted behavioural therapies, such as exposure therapy, appear applicable to OCD, PG or SUDs, suggesting some commonalities across disorders. Conclusions PG shares more similarities with SUDs than with OCD. Similar to the investigation of impulsivity, studies of compulsivity hold promising insights concerning the course, differential diagnosis and treatment of PG, SUDs, and OCD.

Role of Two Clusters of Male Alcoholics in Treatment Retention

Aims: This study aimed to classify alcohol-dependent outpatients on the basis of clinical factors and to verify if the resulting types show different treatment retention. Methods: The sample comprised 332 alcoholics that were enrolled in three different pharmacological trials carried out at Sao Paulo University, Brazil. Based on four clinical factors problem drinking onset age, familial alcoholism, alcohol dependence severity, and depression - K-means cluster analysis was performed by using the average silhouette width to determine the number of clusters. A direct logistic regression was performed to analyze the influence of clusters, medication groups, and Alcoholics Anonymous ( AA) attendance in treatment retention. Results: Two clusters were delineated. The cluster characterized by earlier onset age, more familial alcoholism, higher alcoholism severity, and less depression symptoms showed a higher chance of discontinuing the treatment, independently of medications used and AA attendance. Participation in AA was significantly related to treatment retention. Discussion: Health services should broaden the scope of services offered to meet heterogeneous needs of clients, and identify treatment practices and therapists which improve retention. Information about patients' characteristics linked to dropout should be used to make treatment programs more responsive and attractive, combining pharmacological agents with more intensive and diversified psychosocial interventions. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel

Lipophilicity as a determinant of binding of procaine analogs to rat alpha(3)beta(4) nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) have been studied in detail with regard to their interaction with therapeutic and drug addiction-related compounds. Using a structureactivity approach, we have examined the relationship among the molecular features of a set of eight para-R-substituted N,N-[(dimethylamino)ethyl] benzoate hydrochlorides, structurally related to procaine and their affinity for the a3 beta 4 nAChR heterologously expressed in KXa3 beta 4R2 cells. Affinity values (log[1/IC50]) of these compounds for the a3 beta 4 nAChR were determined by their competition with [3H]TCP binding. Log(1/IC50) values were analyzed considering different hydrophobic and electronic parameters and those related to molar refractivity. These have been experimentally determined or were taken from published literature. In accordance with literature observations, the generated cross-validated quantitative structureactivity relationship (QSAR) equations indicated a significant contribution of hydrophobic term to binding affinity of procaine analogs to the receptor and predicted affinity values for several local anesthetics (LAs) sets taken from the literature. The predicted values by using the QSAR model correlated well with the published values both for neuronal and for electroplaque nAChRs. Our work also reveals the general structure features of LAs that are important for interaction with nAChRs as well as the structural modifications that could be made to enhance binding affinity. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The characteristics of VIM-1-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae from South Africa

A study was designed to characterize a carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPSA01) isolated from a patient in Gauteng, South Africa without recent travel outside South Africa. Molecular characterization was done using isoelectric focusing, polymerase chain reaction and sequencing for bla(VIM), bla(IMP), bla(NDM), bla(CTX-Ms), bla(OXAs), bla(TEMs), and bla(SHV), plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance determinants, multilocus sequencing typing, plasmid replicon typing, and addiction factors. KPSA01 produced VIM-1 and belonged to the newly described sequence type ST569. The plasmid that harboured bla(VIM) typed within the narrow host range IncF replicon group, contained the aadA1 gene cassette, and tested positive for the vagCD and ccdAB addiction systems. This is the first report of VIM-1-producing K. pneumoniae outside Europe. It is important that surveillance studies be undertaken in Africa to determine if VIM-1-producing K. pneumoniae are present in significant numbers.

ADOLESCENCE AND DRUG USE THROUGH THE LENS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: SUFFERING AND ECSTASY IN THE PASSAGE

ADOLESCENCE AND DRUG USE THROUGH THE LENS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: SUFFERING AND ECSTASY IN THE PASSAGE The purpose of this study is to reflect upon the psychological factors of adolescent drug addiction according to a psychoanalytic perspective. First we consider adolescence as a social-historical category and then we discuss the psychoanalytic understanding of the adolescent transition. This theoretical path builds the approach that considers drug use as a phenomenon that serves as a passage ritual to contemporary adolescence. This phenomenon is modulated by the drive organization, which determines how the individual will take ownership of the use of psychoactive substances. We conclude that the substance use may function as a buffer-object, activated to deal with the structural fragility of the contemporary affective bonds.