Trends in Mortality From Novel Psychoactive Substances as "Legal Highs": Gender Differences in Manner of Death and Implications for Risk Differences for Women.

Introduction: This study aimed to examine drug-related deaths in the UK in which novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are an implicated substance, and to focus on female deaths in comparison with male deaths. While male overdoses dominate epidemiological statistics, there is an increase in female drug-related deaths and a narrowing of the gap between gender mortality rates which is to date unexplained.

Method: This study analyzed data from the National Programme for Substance Abuse Deaths (NPSAD) database that records drug-related deaths in the UK from coronial records.

Seeing sadness: Comorbid effects of loneliness and depression on emotional face processing.

Background/objective: Loneliness and depression are highly comorbid, and both are associated with social processing deficits. However, there is a paucity of research aimed at differentiating emotional face-processing deficits that are comorbid to loneliness and depression versus those attributable to loneliness or depression only.

Methods: 502 participants were recruited and screened for loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory).

Neuroticism related differences in working memory tasks.

Two influential theories relating to personality traits, i.e. arousal-based theory (ABT) and attentional control theory (ACT), made predictions on how neuroticism may affect task performance.

Does perception of drug-related harm change with age? A cross-sectional online survey of young and older people.

Objectives: To investigate how young and older people perceive the harms associated with legal and illegal drugs.

Design: Cross-sectional study: adults aged 18-24 years versus 45+ completed an online survey ranking the perceived harms associated with 11 drugs on 16 drug-related harm criteria.

Setting: Online survey.

Low identification of alcohol use disorders in general practice in England.

Aims: The prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in the United Kingdom is estimated at 25%, and primary care has been identified as the first line of treatment for this population. However, there is a paucity of evidence regarding the current rates of identification of AUDs in primary care. The aim of the present study was to compare the observed rates of AUDs in general practice with expected rates, which are based on general population prevalence rates of AUDs.

Antidepressant-related deaths and antidepressant prescriptions in England and Wales, 1998-2000.

Background: Deaths from antidepressants continue to account for a substantial proportion of drug-related deaths.

Aims: To investigate the relative toxicity of the major classes of antidepressant drugs, with the specific objective of assessing this in relation to the cause of death; and to analyse the deaths where there were multiple mentions of antidepressant drugs or other psychoactive drugs with antidepressants.

Method: Mortality data were collected from the National Programme of Substance Abuse Deaths, and antidepressant prescription data were collected.

Cause and manner of death in drug-related fatality: an analysis of drug-related deaths recorded by coroners in England and Wales in 2000.

This study investigated causes and manner of drug-related fatalities recorded in 2000 in the United Kingdom, measuring the 'masked' manner of death in cases typically recorded as overdose. A retrospective cohort study was used of 1037 cases of accidental drug-related fatalities reported by coroners in England and Wales to the National Programme of Substance Abuse Deaths. Whilst 802 cases were identified as direct acute overdose, representing 77% of the total accidental deaths, 23% of 'overdose' fatalities were caused by asphyxiation (7%), drug-related medical conditions (7%), non-drug-related conditions (4%), traumatic accidents (3%) and infections (2%).

Corticotropin releasing factor antagonist, alpha-helical CRF(9-41), reverses nicotine-induced conditioned, but not unconditioned, anxiety.

Rationale: Unconditioned anxiogenic effects of nicotine have been observed in the social interaction (SI) test 5 min after injection of a low dose and both 5 min and 30 min after injection of a high dose. Conditioned anxiety has also been observed 24 h after testing in the SI with a high dose of nicotine.

Objectives: In order to determine whether these three anxiogenic effects shared a common mechanism, we investigated the role of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF).

Conditioned anxiety to nicotine.

Rationale: Despite its reinforcing properties nicotine has also been reported to produce anxiety in humans and anxiogenic effects in animal tests of anxiety.

Objective: The aims of this study were three-fold: (a) to investigate whether anxiety can be conditioned to cues associated with an acute anxiogenic dose of nicotine, (b) to investigate whether the conditioned anxiety is specific to a particular test of anxiety, and (c) to investigate whether nicotine pre-exposure influences the development of a conditioned anxiogenic effect.

Methods: An anxiogenic dose of nicotine was administered to rats either before or after experience with the social interaction (SI) test.

Nicotinic--serotonergic interactions in brain and behaviour.

This review focuses on nicotinic--serotonergic interactions in the central nervous system (CNS). Nicotine increases 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) release in the cortex, striatum, hippocampus, dorsal raphé nucleus (DRN), hypothalamus, and spinal cord. As yet, there is little firm evidence for nicotinic receptors on serotonergic terminals and thus nicotine's effects on 5-HT may not necessarily be directly mediated, but there is strong evidence that the 5-HT tone plays a permissive role in nicotine's effects.