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).

Consumption of black currants, lingonberries and bilberries increases serum quercetin concentrations.

Objective: To study serum quercetin concentrations of subjects consuming berries or habitual Finnish diets.

Design: Randomized parallel dietary intervention.

Subjects: Forty healthy men (age 60 y).

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.

Detection and assay of cis- and trans-isomers of 4-methylaminorex in urine, plasma and tissue samples.

The 4-methylaminorex (4-MAX) is an amphetamine-related psychostimulant drug that has appeared on the clandestine market with a street name of "U4Euh". This compound exists as four stereoisomers, trans-4R,5R, trans-4S,5S, cis-4R,5S and cis-4S,5R, of which the cis forms have been classified as Schedule I substances in the US. The increasing variety of designer drugs has highlighted the importance of detection, identification, and quantitative measurement of these drugs, including 4-MAX, in biological samples.

Rewarding properties of methylphenidate: sensitization by prior exposure to the drug and effects of dopamine D1- and D2-receptor antagonists.

In drug addiction, a sensitization phenomenon has been postulated to play a critical role. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether sensitization occurs to the rewarding properties of methylphenidate, a psychostimulant drug known to possess abuse potential, as assessed with the biased conditioned place preference method in rats. In addition, since the brain dopaminergic system is considered to be important in drug-reward, the involvement of dopamine D1- and D2-receptors both in the rewarding properties of methylphenidate and in sensitization to these properties was assessed.

Oxalic acid stabilizes dopamine, serotonin, and their metabolites in automated liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

Use of antioxidative agents is required in automated LC assay of microdialysis samples, due to rapid degradation of the monoamine neurotransmitters and their metabolites. Addition of oxalic acid prevented degradation of dopamine, serotonin, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid efficiently: after a 24-h incubation at room temperature the decreases in peak heights were less than 10%. The long-term stability of the analytes, however, was still enhanced when acetic acid and L-cysteine were included in the solution.

Plasma kinetics and urinary excretion of the flavanones naringenin and hesperetin in humans after ingestion of orange juice and grapefruit juice.

The flavanones naringenin and hesperetin exhibit estrogenic, anticarcinogenic and antioxidative properties. Orange juice and grapefruit juice contain high amounts of these compounds, and therefore their intake from the diet can be relatively high. No data are available regarding plasma concentrations or plasma kinetics of flavanones.

The effects of quinine and 4-aminopyridine on conditioned place preference and changes in motor activity induced by morphine in rats.

1. The effects of two unselective potassium (K(+)-) channel blockers, quinine (12.5, 25 and 50 mg/kg) and 4-aminopyridine (1 and 2 mg/kg), on conditioned place preference and biphasic changes in motor activity induced by morphine (10 mg/kg) were tested in Wistar rats.

The effects of diazepam and zolpidem on cocaine- and amphetamine-induced place preference.

Drugs such as benzodiazepines, which enhance the effects of inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), are known to modulate the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system, which is considered to mediate the rewarding effects of psychostimulants. The effects of diazepam, a benzodiazepine that binds unspecifically to omega 1- (omega1-) and omega2-receptors, and zolpidem, a nonbenzodiazepine drug that binds preferentially to omega1-receptors, on cocaine- and amphetamine-induced place preference were evaluated in Wistar rats. In tests using the counterbalanced method, neither diazepam (0.

Creatine and caffeine in anaerobic and aerobic exercise: effects on physical performance and pharmacokinetic considerations.

The pharmacokinetics and effects of creatine and caffeine administration on anaerobic and aerobic performance of 7 trained athletes were studied in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover design. The treatments were: placebo (PLA), a single oral dose (7 mg x kg(-1)) of caffeine (CAF), repeated oral doses (3 x 100 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1)) of creatine for 3 days (CRE), or the combination of caffeine and creatine (CAF + CRE) before physical exercise. In one session CAF was administered without exercise.

The acute effects of amphetamine derivatives on extracellular serotonin and dopamine levels in rat nucleus accumbens.

The acute effects of amphetamine derivatives on extracellular concentration of serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine in the nucleus accumbens were studied with in vivo microdialysis using conscious, freely moving rats. 5-HT, dopamine, and their major metabolites were measured by HPLC with electrochemical detection. Amphetamine (1.