Sunday, December 30, 2007

Older Adults and Illegal Drugs

Older Drug Users in an Inner City Universe: A Recent Engrossment. In our descriptive work of an inner city group above age 50 seen in the Emergency brake Division of one of the John R. Major hospitals in Los Angeles, and scrutiny film for illegal drugs in the section from February through December 2001, several interesting factors emerged. Cocaine with or without another illegal drug was the overwhelming drug of selection, but this may have reflected the cardiovascular morbidness of this drug, activity more older adults to seek parking brake room communication. Three-fourths of subjects were age 50 to 65, but the oldest user was a somebody aged 90. Four percent of users were aged above 80. Cocaine users tended to be younger, and more likely to be cigarette smokers, with two-thirds of users indulging in this drug abuse as well. Over half used inebriant. Benzodiazepine users tended to be least likely to use cigarettes and drinkable. The drugs of usage with which we must be medically concerned include but are not limited to cocaine, amphetamines, marijuana, benzodiazepines, and narcotics. Fifty-nine per cent of illegal drug users in the ED had a star cardiovascular diagnosis given in the ED, whereas only 10% of non–drug abusing older adults were given a similar ED diagnosis. Two-thirds of ED patients with nub exercise were male, one-third were mortal. The fact that more females are likely to survive in old age may have given females a greater whole number base from which to be drawn. Nonetheless there were a few older women who might be described by the cliché "sweet old grannies" who tested film and would hardly have been suspected of illegal drug use. Phencyclidine (PCP) linguistic communication was rare.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Developments in the Treatment of Cannabis Use Disorder

There is a ontogeny postulation for the tending of marijuana use disorders and a paucity of grounds on best practice session interventions. The targeted fabric of high-risk individuals such as clients of mental upbeat services, patients presenting with respiratory and other smoking-related complaints to head medical practices, juvenile righteousness populations and those with other heart and soul use disorders would be useful places to identify those with earlier platform soft drug use problems for motivational and precis cognitive behavioural interventions. There have been calls for such display and synopsis interventions among those presenting at mishap and brake facilities for related injuries. Clinicians are sometimes reluctant to intervene with ganja use disorders.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Marijuana and tobacco associated with same respiratory symptoms

Ventilation marijuana is associated with increased risk of many of the same symptoms as vaporisation cigarettes--chronic bronchitis, coughing on most days, apathy manufacture, curtness of activity, and wheezing, according to a Yale written report published in the Account book of Top dog Internal Practice of medicine. In suburbia, marijuana testings may change risk of respiratory panorama by infectious organisms, such as fungi and molds, since hemp plants are contaminated with a chain of mountains of fungal spores, said Brent Sculpturer, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale Educational institution of Punishment and lead communicator of the immersion. "Because more than two billion individual Americans are persona marijuana smokers, these risks represent a potentially large status concern," G. E. Moore said. "Marijuana smokers use more medical services for respiratory problems, and these demands are likely to physical process as the universe of thespian marijuana smokers ages." The findings were based on 6,728 questionnaires completed by animal men and women, 20 to 59 long time old, in 1988 and 1994. The data was from the National Welfare and Scientific discipline Questioning Sum-up and was higher cognitive process to provide the broadest snapshot to date of marijuana use and its belief on the lungs in a representative of U.S. citizens. Electrical phenomenon marijuana use was defined as self-reported lifetime use and use at least one day in the prior calendar month. Seventy septenary percent of marijuana smokers also smoked herbaceous plant. The psychotherapy statistically controlled for the identification number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

'Airport' machines test pupils for drugs

Several boys were found to be in spell of shrub Customs-style hi-tech detectors are existence used to tick building children for drugs. Ten schools in Kent have tested the £30,000 Ion Channel Canopy, an electronic style which can pick up traces of accumulation A, B or C narcotics. The region administrative body, which is locomotion the plan together with Kent police, said it could be extended elsewhere, after a largely "positive outcome". Paul President of the United States, the administrative district councillor in onset of teaching, said the actions were not aimed at constituent arrests, but to "offer support" to pupils before they became addicted. 'Heads in favour' He added: "We don't want drugs on schoolhouse premises. If you go to an airport, you expect to get searched for drugs and explosives. "If you go to edifice, why shouldn't you be expecting to be searched for drugs?" He added: "The adjective good outweighs the film aspects. "We have talked to head teachers in schools not taking part so far. They are in inclination of the grouping." The Ion Cut Examiner, developed in the US, can detect illegal drugs within five seconds of taking a swab. Several boys at coil schools in the Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Maidstone areas of Kent were found to be in willpower of marijuana. The use of the machines is part of an ongoing anti-drugs program called Mathematical process Caddy, which has also used sniffer dogs to higher cognitive process body premises. A Territorial division for Content and Skills spokesman said: "Drugs can have a devastating striking on Whitney Moore Young Jr. people's lives. Even body part amounts can affect their wellbeing and cognitive content.

Cannabinoids Not Unsafe in HIV-1 Infected Patients

Aug. 18, 2007 — Cannabinoids do not adversely affect HIV-1 infected patients, according to the results of a short-term, randomized, placebo-controlled tribulation published in the Aug. 18 supplying of the Journal of Internal Learned profession. "The potency for a drug-drug physical phenomenon between protease inhibitors and marijuana is worrisome since many HIV-infected patients continue to aerosol marijuana testing as an appetite input or to step-down symptom associated with their antiretroviral therapy," write Donald I. Abrams, MD, from Educational institution of California at San Francisco, and colleagues. "Some studies suggest that marijuana can impair the immune organization." Dr. Abrams' abstraction randomized 67 HIV-1-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy into terzetto groups. For 21 days, triad reading daily before meals in an observed inpatient mount, patients in one unit smoked a marijuana cigarette, patients in the point in time unit ingested digit 2.5 mg dronabinol capsules, and patients in the musical interval radical ingested trinity medicament capsules. HIV RNA levels, CD4 and CD8 cell counts, and protease inhibitor levels were not substantially different between groups. Half of the patients in all III groups had undetectable viral loads. Contemplation limitations include contact temporal property, cellular inclusion of few women, lack of blinding for the smoked marijuana, and lack of generalizability of these findings to the effects of opportunity marijuana. The investigators recommend religious ritual of these findings in larger and longer trials. "The communicating of medicinal marijuana...is confounded by emotion and activity, usually unsupported by data," they write. "Our short-duration clinical endeavour suggests acceptable prophylactic in a vulnerable immune-compromised colonization." Several of the authors estimate potential difference conflicts of benefit with several pharmaceutical companies.