Effectiveness of a culturally attuned Internet-based depression prevention program for Chinese adolescents: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Depression prevention among adolescents is crucial for reducing the global disease burden. Internet-based depression prevention approaches are found to be effective but they were mostly evaluated in a Western context. Grasping the Opportunity is a Chinese Internet intervention, which was translated and modified from CATCH-IT developed in the West.

Adaptation of an internet-based depression prevention intervention for Chinese adolescents: from "CATCH-IT" to "grasp the opportunity".

Background: There is a dearth of information on the compatibility of Western-developed, internet-based interventions that prevent onset and precipitation of depression in global settings. Recently, Project CATCH-IT (Competent Adulthood Transition with Cognitive-behavioral, Humanistic and Interpersonal Training), an information technology-based intervention, was adapted to prevent depression in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. This paper evaluates qualitative data from consultations to develop a revised intervention of CATCH-IT for Hong Kong youth.

Double-blind placebo-controlled evaluation of the PROMETA™ protocol for methamphetamine dependence.

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the PROMETA™ Protocol for treating methamphetamine dependence.

Design: A double-blind, placebo-controlled 108-day study with random assignment to one of two study conditions: active medication with flumazenil (2 mg infusions on days 1, 2, 3, 22, 23), gabapentin (1200 mg to day 40) and hydroxazine (50 mg to day 10) versus placebo medication (with active hydroxazine only).

Setting: Three substance abuse treatment clinics: two in-patient, one out-patient.

Controlling alcohol-related global health problems.

Alcohol's adverse public health impact includes disease, injury, violence, disability, social problems, psychiatric illness, drunk driving, drug use, unsafe sex, and premature death. Furthermore, alcohol is a confirmed human carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that alcohol causes cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon-rectum, and breast.

Provision of ancillary medications during buprenorphine detoxification does not improve treatment outcomes.

For individuals dependent on opioids, recovery efforts begin with a period of withdrawal that typically includes discomfort from symptoms, possibly precipitating a return to drug use. The study described here investigated whether the provision of ancillary medications for opioid withdrawal symptoms affected treatment outcomes in 139 participants receiving buprenorphine in a 13-day detoxification trial. Outcome measures include the number of opioid-free urine samples collected and retention in treatment.

Conducting clinical research with prescription opioid dependence: defining the population.

Most treatment studies of opioid-dependent populations have focused predominantly on heroin users, despite a recent increase in those dependent upon prescription opioids. A key methodological challenge involved in studying the latter group involves defining the population. Specifically, researchers must decide whether to include (1) concurrent heroin users and (2) individuals with pain.

PC-SPES for treatment of prostate cancer: herbal medicine.

The number of patients who seek treatment with complementary and alternative medicine has increased during the past decade. The trend is primarily driven by consumers who start to change their views toward conventional pharmaceutical approaches that are offered to them. Among all complementary and alternative therapies used in the management of prostate cancer, Prostate Cancer-SPES (PC-SPES) has attracted much national attention because of its potency, controversy, and recall by the US Food and Drug Administration.