Craving-induced effects of different drug cues on persons abstaining from heroin

Background: The key factors of inducing drug cravings in persons abstaining from drug use remain a focus of addictions research. Given the accumulating evidences, the scope of cues investigated in the cue-reactivity paradigm has increased considerably. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of the intensity and endurance of different types of cues on their ability to induce craving. This study investigated differences among drug-cue words, negative physiological-cue words, and negative social-cue words in the induction of drug cravings among persons abstaining from heroin.

Methods: The sample consisted of 149 male abstinent heroin abusers from four addiction rehabilitation centers in China. Based on their abstinence lengths, they were labeled as short-term, medium-term, and long-term abstainer participants respectively. All participants completed a stress-imagery task and rated craving by visual analog scale.

Results: There was a significant interaction of cue type and abstinence length. There was no difference on the craving induced by three types of cue words in the short-term group. In the medium-term group, craving induced by negative social-cue words was significantly stronger than that by negative physiological-cue words, but not that by drug-cue words. In the long-term group, the craving induced by negative social-cue words remained the strongest, significantly stronger than that by both drug-cue words and negative physiological-cue words.

Conclusion: Negative social-cue words presented in the current study retain the ability to induce craving in heroin abstainers; this finding suggests that negative social cues encountered under more general circumstances could be a risk factor for relapse.     

Prenatal Substance Use and Perceptions of Parent and Partner Use Using the 4P’s Plus Screener

Maternal and Child Health Journal - Background Prenatal substance use screening is recommended. The 4 P’s Plus screener includes questions on perceived problematic substance use in parents...     

South African abortion attitudes from 2007-2016: the roles of religiosity and attitudes toward sexuality and gender equality

ABSTRACT

Abortion is legal in South Africa, but negative abortion attitudes remain common and are poorly understood. We used nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey data to analyze abortion attitudes in the case of fetal anomaly and in the case of poverty from 2007 to 2016 (n = 20,711; ages = 16+). We measured correlations between abortion attitudes and these important predictors: religiosity, attitudes about premarital sex, attitudes about preferential hiring and promotion of women, and attitudes toward family gender roles. Abortion acceptability for poverty increased over time (b = 0.05, p < .001), but not for fetal anomaly (b = ?0.008, p = .284). Highly religious South Africans reported lower abortion acceptability in both cases (Odds Ratio (OR)_anomaly = 0.85, p = .015; OR_poverty = 0.84, p = .02). Premarital sex acceptability strongly and positively predicted abortion acceptability (OR_anomaly = 2.63, p < .001; OR_poverty = 2.46, p < .001). Attitudes about preferential hiring and promotion of women were not associated with abortion attitudes, but favorable attitudes about working mothers were positively associated with abortion acceptability for fetal anomaly ((OR_anomaly = 1.09, p = .01; OR_poverty = 1.02, p = .641)). Results suggest negative abortion attitudes remain common in South Africa and are closely tied to religiosity, traditional ideologies about sexuality, and gender role expectations about motherhood.     

外泌体在肿瘤转移前微环境形成中的作用

肿瘤的转移前微环境（pre-metastatic niche，PMN）特指原发肿瘤灶为肿瘤细胞远处播散和定植准备的微环境，此微环境的六个特征包括炎症、免疫抑制、血管生成/血管通透性、亲器官性、重编程和淋巴管生成。PMN形成的关键成分包括肿瘤源性分泌因子、细胞外囊泡（含外泌体）、骨髓源性细胞、免疫抑制细胞和宿主基质细胞等，其中，外泌体作为细胞间重要的信使，在肿瘤PMN的形成中具有重要作用。本综述就外泌体在肿瘤PMN形成中的作用进行探讨。     

The technological imperative in tuberculosis care and prevention in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

A monocausal bacteriological understanding of infectious disease orients tuberculosis control efforts towards antimicrobial interventions. A bias towards technological solutions can leave multistranded public health and social interventions largely neglected. In the context of globalising biomedical approaches to infectious disease control, this ethnography-inspired review article reflects upon the implementation of rapid diagnostic technology in low- and middle-income countries. Fieldwork observations in Vietnam provided a stimulus for a critical review of the global rollout of tuberculosis diagnostic technology. To address local needs in tuberculosis control, health managers in resource-poor settings are readily cooperating with international donors to deploy novel diagnostic technologies throughout national tuberculosis programme facilities. Increasing investment in new diagnostic technologies is predicated on the supposition that these interventions will ameliorate disease outcomes. However, suboptimal treatment control persists even when accurate diagnostic technologies are available, suggesting that promotion of singular technological solutions can distract from addressing systemic change, without which disease susceptibility, propagation of infection, detection gaps, diagnostic delays, and treatment shortfalls persist.     

Deferoxamine promotes recovery of traumatic spinal cord injury by inhibiting ferroptosis

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent novel cell death pathway. Deferoxamine, a ferroptosis inhibitor, has been reported to promote spinal cord injury repair. It has yet to be clarified whether ferroptosis inhibition represents the mechanism of action of Deferoxamine on spinal cord injury recovery. A rat model of Deferoxamine at thoracic 10 segment was established using a modified Allen's method. Ninety 8-week-old female Wistar rats were used. Rats in the Deferoxamine group were intraperitoneally injected with 100 mg/kg Deferoxamine 30 minutes before injury. Simultaneously, the Sham and Deferoxamine groups served as controls. Drug administration was conducted for 7 consecutive days. The results were as follows:(1) Electron microscopy revealed shrunken mitochondria in the spinal cord injury group.(2) The Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan locomotor rating score showed that recovery of the hindlimb was remarkably better in the Deferoxamine group than in the spinal cord injury group.(3) The iron concentration was lower in the Deferoxamine group than in the spinal cord injury group after injury.(4) Western blot assay revealed that, compared with the spinal cord injury group, GPX4, xCT, and glutathione expression was markedly increased in the Deferoxamine group.(5) Real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that, compared with the Deferoxamine group, mRNA levels of ferroptosis-related genes Acyl-CoA synthetase family member 2(ACSF2) and iron-responsive element-binding protein 2(IREB2) were up-regulated in the Deferoxamine group.(6) Deferoxamine increased survival of neurons and inhibited gliosis. These findings confirm that Deferoxamine can repair spinal cord injury by inhibiting ferroptosis. Targeting ferroptosis is therefore a promising therapeutic approach for spinal cord injury.