[Test-retest reliability of Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire in nurses].

Objective: To evaluate the test-retest reliability of Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire in nurses and to provide supplementary data for evaluating the reliability of the questionnaire in different occupational populations.

Methods: Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was translated into Chinese according to the Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. We carried out a study to examine the reliability of Chinese-version Nordic Questionnaire among Chinese nurses.

PET imaging of dopamine transporter and drug craving during methadone maintenance treatment and after prolonged abstinence in heroin users.

It has been documented that methadone maintenance treatment is effective in reducing drug craving and relevant risk behaviors in heroin users. However, it is not understood whether methadone maintenance treatment impairs the dopamine transporter in the striatum. To establish whether chronic opiate use might impair brain dopamine neurons in humans, we assessed dopamine transporter (DAT) uptake function in the striatum (caudate and putamen), and analyzed the correlation between DAT in the striatum and heroin craving and subjective anxiety in former heroin users with prolonged abstinence and in patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment.

Comparison of drug abuse in Germany and China.

Drug abuse has a long, but also different history in Germany and China. The Opium War largely influenced the history of China in 19th century; however, China was once recognized as a drug-free nation for 3 decades from the 1950s to the 1980s. Drug abuse has spread quickly since re-emerging as a national problem in China in the late 1980s.

Traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of opiate addiction.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) includes Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Chinese medicine consists of natural products including plants, animals and minerals. TCM has been practiced in China for more than 2000 years, and for the past 200 years has been used in treatment of drug addiction.

Recent trends in drug abuse in China.

Drug abuse has spread quickly since reemerging as a national problem in China in the late 1980s. The number of registered drug abusers increased from 70,000 in 1990 to more than one million by the end of 2004. In addition to opioids, abuse of 'new' types of drugs including 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and ketamine has spread since 1997.