Addiction to drugs is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that has major medical, social, and economic complications. It has been established that genetic factors contribute to the vulnerability to develop drug addiction and to the effectiveness of its treatment. Identification of these factors may increase our understanding of the disorders, help in the development of new treatments and advance personalized medicine. In this review, we will describe the genetics of the major genes of the opioid system (opioid receptors and their endogenous ligands) in connection to addiction to opioids, cocaine, alcohol and methamphetamines. Particular emphasis is given to association and functional studies of specific variants. We will provide information on the sample populations and the size of each study, as well as a list of the variants implicated in association with addiction-related phenotypes, and with the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for addiction.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00439-012-1172-4 | DOI Listing |
Device
October 2024
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Naloxone can effectively rescue victims from opioid overdose, but less than 5% survive due to delayed or absent first responder intervention. Current overdose reversal systems face key limitations, including low user adherence, false positive detection, and slow antidote delivery. Here, we describe a subcutaneously implanted robotic first responder to overcome these challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pain Res
January 2025
NXTSTIM INC. Department of Pain Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA.
Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS) are non-invasive therapies widely used for pain relief and neuromuscular adaptation. However, the clinical research supporting the efficacy of TENS in chronic pain management is limited by significant methodological flaws, including small sample sizes and inconsistent reporting of stimulation parameters. TENS modulates pain perception through various techniques, targeting specific nerve fibers and pain pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Form Res
January 2025
Center on Substance Use and Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Background: Despite increasing fatal stimulant poisoning in the United States, little is understood about the mechanism of death. The psychological autopsy (PA) has long been used to distinguish the manner of death in equivocal cases, including opioid overdose, but has not been used to explicitly explore stimulant mortality.
Objective: We aimed to develop and implement a large PA study to identify antecedents of fatal stimulant poisoning, seeking to maximize data gathering and ethical interactions during the collateral interviews.
Harm Reduct J
January 2025
Turning Point, Eastern Health, Richmond, VIC, Australia.
Background: People in justice settings experience higher rates of psychiatric morbidity, including alcohol and drug use disorders, compared with the general population. However, our understanding of opioid-related harms in justice settings is limited. This study used ambulance data to examine opioid-related harms and experiences of care in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, during periods of incarceration or detention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Laboratory for Biofunction Dynamics Imaging, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 6-7-3 Minatojima-Minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan.
Placebo analgesia is caused by inactive treatment, implicating endogenous brain function involvement. However, the neurobiological basis remains unclear. In this study, we found that μ-opioid signals in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activate the descending pain inhibitory system to initiate placebo analgesia in neuropathic pain rats.
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