Answering questions about electronic cigarettes using a multidisciplinary model.

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) are a relatively new class of tobacco products and a subject of much debate for scientists and policymakers worldwide. Objective data that address the ECIG risk-benefit ratio for individual and public health are needed, and addressing this need requires a multidisciplinary approach that spans several areas of psychology as well as chemistry, toxicant inhalation, and physiology. This multidisciplinary approach would benefit from methods that are reliable, valid, and swift.

Smoking Behaviors in Arab Americans: Acculturation and Health Beliefs.

Introduction: Arab Americans are a growing population in the United States. In the 2011 American Community Survey, the U.S.

Evidence acquisition and evaluation for evidence summit on population-level behavior change to enhance child survival and development in low- and middle-income countries.

Recognizing the need for evidence to inform public health officials and health care workers in the U.S. government and low- and middle-income country governments on efficient, effective behavior change policies, strategies, and programs for child health and development, the U.

Evidence acquisition and evaluation for evidence summit on enhancing provision and use of maternal health services through financial incentives.

Recognizing the need for evidence to inform US Government and governments of the low- and middle-income countries on efficient, effective maternal health policies, strategies, and programmes, the US Government convened the Evidence Summit on Enhancing Provision and Use of Maternal Health Services through Financial Incentives in April 2012 in Washington, DC, USA. This paper summarizes the background and methods for the acquisition and evaluation of the evidence used for achieving the goals of the Summit. The goal of the Summit was to obtain multidisciplinary expert review of literature to inform both US Government and governments of the low- and middle-income countries on evidence-informed practice, policies, and strategies for financial incentives.

Financial incentives and maternal health: where do we go from here?

Health financing strategies that incorporate financial incentives are being applied in many low- and middle-income countries, and improving maternal and neonatal health is often a central goal. As yet, there have been few reviews of such programmes and their impact on maternal health. The US Government Evidence Summit on Enhancing Provision and use of Maternal Health Services through Financial Incentives was convened on 24-25 April 2012 to address this gap.

William L. Woolverton: a case history in unraveling the behavioral pharmacology of stimulants.

Clinical findings suggest that the most promising strategy for cocaine addiction is a combination of indirect-acting monoamine agonists with some form of behavioral intervention. This approach can be traced back to preclinical research, some of which was conducted by William L. Woolverton.

Abuse liability measures for use in analgesic clinical trials in patients with pain: IMMPACT recommendations.

Assessing and mitigating the abuse liability (AL) of analgesics is an urgent clinical and societal problem. Analgesics have traditionally been assessed in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) designed to demonstrate analgesic efficacy relative to placebo or an active comparator. In these trials, rigorous, prospectively designed assessment for AL is generally not performed.

GLYX-13, a NMDA receptor glycine-site functional partial agonist, induces antidepressant-like effects without ketamine-like side effects.

Recent human clinical studies with the NMDA receptor (NMDAR) antagonist ketamine have revealed profound and long-lasting antidepressant effects with rapid onset in several clinical trials, but antidepressant effects were preceded by dissociative side effects. Here we show that GLYX-13, a novel NMDAR glycine-site functional partial agonist, produces an antidepressant-like effect in the Porsolt, novelty induced hypophagia, and learned helplessness tests in rats without exhibiting substance abuse-related, gating, and sedative side effects of ketamine in the drug discrimination, conditioned place preference, pre-pulse inhibition and open-field tests. Like ketamine, the GLYX-13-induced antidepressant-like effects required AMPA/kainate receptor activation, as evidenced by the ability of NBQX to abolish the antidepressant-like effect.

Evidence acquisition and evaluation for a U.S. Government Evidence Summit on Protecting Children Outside Family Care.

Recognizing the need for evidence to inform policies, strategies, and programs to care for vulnerable children, the U.S. Government convened an Evidence Summit on Protecting Children Outside of Family Care on December 12-13, 2011, in Washington, DC, USA.

Hijacking of Basic Research: The Case of Synthetic Cannabinoids.

Gathering and communicating knowledge are important aspects of the scientific endeavor. Yet presentation of data in public forums such as scientific meetings and publications makes it available not only to scientists, but also to others who may have different ideas about how to use research findings. A recent example of this type of hijacking is the introduction of synthetic cannabinoids that are sprayed on herbal products and subsequently smoked for their marijuana-like intoxicating properties.

Areca nut dependence among chewers in a South Indian community who do not also use tobacco.

Aims: Previously reported research suggests a dependence syndrome for areca nut use, though well-designed studies are virtually non-existent. The goal of this study was to examine evidence of areca dependence in a sample of areca-only (i.e.

Risk management and post-marketing surveillance for the abuse of medications acting on the central nervous system: expert panel report.

The abuse and diversion of medications is a significant public health problem. This paper is part of a supplemental issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence focused on the development of risk management plans and post-marketing surveillance related to minimizing this problem. The issue is based on a conference that was held in October 2008.

Preclinical evaluation of the abuse potential of the analgesic bicifadine.

The abuse liability of the analgesic bicifadine was investigated in animal models used to predict the abuse potential of psychostimulants in humans. Bicifadine, cocaine, d-amphetamine, bupropion, and desipramine were evaluated for the production of cocaine-like discriminative stimulus effects in rats. Cocaine, d-amphetamine, and bupropion dose-dependently and fully substituted for cocaine.

Classification of abused inhalants.

Many hundreds of household and industrial products can be volatilized readily and are subject to abuse. Inhalant abuse research has been hampered by a lack of consensus on whether or not there are subclassifications of abused inhalants based on chemical structure, form or intended use of the product or pharmacological properties. This paper discusses strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to classification of inhalants and suggests areas for future research in this area.

The discriminative stimulus effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate glycine-site ligands in NMDA antagonist-trained rats.

Rationale: Many N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists produce phencyclidine (PCP)-like side effects that limit their clinical utility. NMDA glycine-site antagonists may be less likely to produce these effects than other site-selective NMDA antagonists.

Objectives: The objective of the study is to compare the discriminative stimulus effects of novel NMDA glycine-site drugs to those of channel blocking and competitive NMDA antagonists.

Availability and characteristics of betel products in the U.S.

Betel use involves oral placement of shards of areca nut (Areca catechu palm seed containing the cholinergic agonist arecoline) wrapped with slaked lime in a betel leaf (Piper betle plant) or various chopped or powdered products containing areca nut and/or parts of the betel plant. Additives to this mixture include catechu (areca palm extract), spices/ sweeteners (e.g.

Drug withdrawal, cocaine and sedative use disorders increase the need for mechanical ventilation in medical patients.

Aims: Alcohol use disorders increase the need for mechanical ventilation (MV) in critically ill medical, surgical and trauma patients. Studies examining other drug use disorders (DUD) in trauma patients have not demonstrated heightened rates of intensive care unit (ICU) complications. Patients with asthma and concurrent cocaine or heroin use disorders have an increased need for MV.

The phencyclidine-like discriminative stimulus effects and reinforcing properties of the NR2B-selective N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist CP-101 606 in rats and rhesus monkeys.

Development of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists for a variety of disorders has been hindered by their production of phencyclidine (PCP)-like psychological effects and abuse potential. There is, however, evidence to suggest that this problem might be mitigated by targeting NMDA receptors subtypes, in particular, those containing the NR2B subunit. To further test this hypothesis, the NR2B selective antagonist CP-101 606 (traxoprodil) was evaluated in two animal models: drug discrimination, a model of the subjective effects of drugs in humans, and self-administration, which evaluates the reinforcing properties of the drug.