Prescription psychostimulants for cocaine use disorder: A review from molecular basis to clinical approach.

Cocaine use is a public health concern in many countries worldwide, particularly in the Americas and Oceania. Overdose deaths involving stimulants, such as cocaine, have been increasing markedly in North America, especially with concurrent opioid involvement. To date, no pharmacological treatment is available to treat stimulant (including cocaine) use disorders.

Violent Behaviours among Adolescents and Young Adults: Association with Psychoactive Substance Use and Parenting Styles.

This study extends existing research on the relationship between psychoactive substance use among young people and violent behaviour, by evaluating the possible effect of the modification of parenting in a nationally representative sample of 14,685 Italian students drawn from the 2019 wave of the ESPAD Italia survey (51% male; mean age about 17 years). Parental dimensions considered in the study were rule-setting, monitoring, and emotional support, as well as the possible absence of a parent. Relative risk ratios and binary logistic regressions were used to estimate the associations separately for adolescents (15-17) and young adults (18-19).

Early parent-child interactions and substance use disorder: An attachment perspective on a biopsychosocial entanglement.

This review aims to elucidate environmental and genetic factors, as well as their epigenetic and neuroendocrine moderators, that may underlie the association between early childhood experiences and Substance Use Disorders (SUD), through the lens of parental attachment. Here we review those attachment-related studies that examined the monoaminergic systems, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal stress response system, the oxytoninergic system, and the endogenous opioid system from a genetic, epigenetic, and neuroendocrine perspective. Overall, the selected studies point to a moderating effect of insecure attachment between genetic vulnerability and SUD, reasonably through epigenetic modifications.

Mortality Risk among Heroin Users Accessing Treatment: Natives and Non-Natives Patients Results of a Longitudinal Study.

The aim of this study was to examine mortality risk and causes of death for natives and non-natives in a cohort of heroin population of treated in Northern Italy. Crude Mortality Rates (CMRs) were 12.78 per 1,000 Person Years (PY), Standardized Mortality Rate (SMR) was 9.