Sustained-release bupropion for smoking cessation in a Chinese sample: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial.

Introduction: Bupropion is a first-line pharmacological aid for smoking cessation; however, no clinical trials have been conducted in a Chinese population.

Methods: We enrolled 248 smokers in a hospital-based, randomized, smoking cessation trial conducted at four outpatient centers in Beijing. A total of 123 participants received an 8-week course of sustained-release bupropion (Bup-SR) and 125 participants received 8 weeks of placebo.

Nocturnal sleep architecture disturbances in early methadone treatment patients.

The subjective and objective sleep patterns of patients with opioid dependence have been previously reported, but the sleep characteristics of patients in early methadone treatment, especially the objective sleep patterns, remain largely unexamined. This study was designed to explore the nocturnal sleep structure of patients on early methadone treatment. Twenty male methadone treatment (MT) patients and 20 male age- and body mass index-matched controls were assessed with overnight limited polysomnography.

Family support and employment as predictors of smoking cessation success: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of nicotine sublingual tablets in chinese smokers.

Background: The purpose of this study is to assess social support and demographic factors that influence the success of smoking cessation aided with sublingual nicotine tablets in a Han Chinese population.

Methods: We randomly allocated 211 Beijing residents who smoked >or= 10 cigarettes a day for at least 1 year into a double-blind, placebo-controlled 3-month randomized smoking cessation trial using sublingual nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Self-reports of sustained smoking cessation were verified during the study by expired carbon monoxide concentrations and urine-cotinine concentrations.

Alterations in pituitary-thyroid axis function among opioid-dependent subjects after acute and protracted abstinence.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes in the pituitary-thyroid axis (PTA) and the time course of the hormonal alterations in subjects with opioid dependence after abstinence. Blood samples from in-patients with opioid dependence and age- and sex-matched healthy controls were collected. The severity of opioid abuse and of withdrawal symptoms was assessed.

Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in opioid dependent subjects: effects of acute and protracted abstinence.

Objectives: The function of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis during opioid dependence has been inconsistent. We compared HPA axis measures between subjects during methadone stabilization and drug-free detoxification with healthy controls.

Methods: Sixty heroin dependent patients received either non-opiate treatment (NOT) with benzodiazepines and clonidine (n = 30) or methadone stabilization treatment (MT, n = 30), and their serum levels of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and cortisol (COR) were measured and compared to those of healthy, nondependent controls.