Brief Report: Excessive alcohol use negatively affects the course of adolescent depression: one year naturalistic follow-up study.

The impact of alcohol use on the course of adolescent depression over one-year was investigated by following 197 consecutive adolescent outpatients with unipolar depression in a naturalistic treatment setting. Their baseline alcohol consumption was categorized in three groups: excessive use (defined as weekly drunkenness), regular use (monthly use, not weekly drunkenness), and no/occasional use (abstinence/less than monthly use). During the monthly BDI follow-up, the excessive users achieved remission less frequently, and after one year, had poorer psychosocial functioning than the no/occasional users.

Workplace drug testing in a military organization: results and experiences from the testing program in the Finnish Defence Forces.

In the military environment drug abuse is a particular risk for occupational safety. In the Finnish Defence Forces a drug testing program was conducted in 2002-2005; soldiers, professional civilians, and military students were tested when applying for a work or right to study; furthermore, annually 5% of the personnel were subjected to random testing. In total, over 2000 urine samples were analyzed in an accredited laboratory for cannabis, opiates, amphetamines, or cocaine.

A comparison of aripiprazole, methylphenidate, and placebo for amphetamine dependence.

Objective: Problems related to illegal amphetamine use have become a major public health issue in many developed countries. To date, evidence on the effectiveness of psychosocial treatments has remained modest, and no pharmacotherapy has proven effective for amphetamine dependence.

Method: Individuals meeting DSM-IV criteria for intravenous amphetamine dependence (N=53) were randomly assigned to receive aripiprazole (15 mg/day), slow-release methylphenidate (54 mg/day), or placebo for 20 weeks.

Rewarding properties of 1-benzylpiperazine, a new drug of abuse, in rats.

1-Benzylpiperazine (also known as 'Legal X', 'Legal E', or 'A2') is a psychoactive compound increasingly encountered on the clandestine market. Previous experimental data suggest that the compound possesses addictive properties. In the present study, we used the conditioned place preference method in the rat to test whether 1-benzylpiperazine possesses rewarding properties.

Orally administered betaine has an acute and dose-dependent effect on serum betaine and plasma homocysteine concentrations in healthy humans.

Betaine, i.e., trimethylglycine, is linked to homocysteine metabolism.

Rewarding properties of the stereoisomers of 4-methylaminorex: involvement of the dopamine system.

4-Methylaminorex is a potential psychostimulant drug of abuse that exists as four stereoisomers: cis-4R,5S, cis-4S,5R, trans-4S,5S, and trans-4R,5R. The racemic mixture of the cis-isomers has been encountered in illicit samples, but previous animal studies suggest that also the trans-isomers could have similar stimulant-like properties. We tested whether the stereoisomers possess rewarding properties and compared their potency using the conditioned place preference method in rats.

Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of the stereoisomers of 4-methylaminorex in the rat.

4-Methylaminorex, a potential psychostimulant drug of abuse, exists as four stereoisomers: cis-4R,5S, cis-4S,5R, trans-4S,5S, and trans-4R,5R, which were shown previously to possess stereospecific effects. This study characterized their pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution profiles, and metabolic turnover to norephedrine and norpseudoephedrine, in male Wistar rats. The rats received each isomer intravenously, intraperitoneally, or orally, followed by blood sample collection via cannula (pharmacokinetic study), or tissue sample collection at predetermined time points (tissue distribution study).

Complaints of poststroke insomnia and its treatment with mianserin.

We assessed the prevalence and associations of symptoms of insomnia in patients with acute ischemic stroke, and evaluated whether mianserin as a sedative antidepressant is beneficial in the treatment of poststroke insomnia. One hundred consecutively hospitalized patients were randomized to receive 60 mg/day of mianserin (n = 51) or placebo for 1 year in a double-blind trial with a 6-month follow-up after the therapy. Symptoms of insomnia were assessed with the three insomnia-related items of the Hamilton Depression Scale; patients were defined as insomniacs if any of these items was positive.

5-HT3 receptor antagonist MDL 72222 attenuates cocaine- and mazindol-, but not methylphenidate-induced neurochemical and behavioral effects in the rat.

Rationale: It has previously been demonstrated that the 5-HT(3) receptors located in the mesolimbic brain areas are able to modulate the dopaminergic effects of various abused drugs, including cocaine (COC).

Objectives: The present experiments investigated the role of 5-HT(3) receptors in the actions of selected monoamine uptake inhibitors.

Methods: The ability of the 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist MDL 72222 (MDL; 0.

Acute neurochemical and behavioral effects of stereoisomers of 4-methylaminorex in relation to brain drug concentrations.

4-Methylaminorex is a stimulant drug of abuse that exists as four stereoisomers: cis-4R,5S, cis-4S,5R, trans-4S,5S, and trans-4R,5R. These isomers have previously been shown to differ markedly in various respects. In the present study we assessed the effects of the isomers of 4-methylaminorex (2.