People in opioid maintenance treatment may have an impaired capacity for emotion perception and ability to make inferences about social situations.

Addiction. 2012 Nov 16. doi: 10.1111/add.12040. [Epub ahead of print]

Deficits in social perception in opioid maintenance patients, abstinent opioid users and non-opioid users.

McDonald S, Darke S, Kaye S, Torok M.

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.

Patterns of symptom reporting during pregnancy comparing opioid maintained and control women

J Addict Med. 2012 Dec;6(4):258-64. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0b013e31826b299d.

 

Gordon AL, Lopatko OV, Stacey H, Pearson V, Woods A, Fisk A, White JM.

methadone-maintained (MM) and buprenorphine-maintained (BM)
Methadone-maintained women reported significantly (P < 0.05) more symptoms than BM women compared to controls throughout pregnancy. Methadone-maintained women reported 8 and BM women reported 3 symptoms in the third trimester at rates greater than controls. Methadone-maintained women reported greater opioid withdrawal than controls; this did not occur in BM women.

Heroin hepatitis

•  Of the first 27 patients who initiated CGT, 42% achieved a sustained viral response.
•  87% (13/15) of genotype-1 infected patients treated with direct acting antiviral agent achieved an undetectable viral load at 24weeks.

Concurrent group treatment for hepatitis C: Implementation and outcomes in a methadone maintenance treatment program.

J Subst Abuse Treat. 2012 Oct 2. pii: S0740-5472(12)00142-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2012.08.007. [Epub ahead of print]

Opioid itch

• μ-opioid receptor (MOR) isoform MOR1D is essential for morphine-induced scratching (MIS)

Unidirectional cross-activation of GRPR by MOR1D uncouples itch and analgesia induced by opioids.

Cell. 2011 Oct 14;147(2):447-58.

Memory retrieval-extinction heroin craving relapse

• In rats, daily retrieval of drug-associated memories 10 minutes or 1 hour but not 6 hours before extinction sessions attenuated drug-induced reinstatement, spontaneous recovery, and renewal of conditioned drug effects and drug seeking.

• In heroin addicts, retrieval of drug-associated memories 10 minutes before extinction sessions attenuated cue-induced heroin craving 1, 30, and 180 days later. The memory retrieval-extinction procedure is a promising nonpharmacological method for decreasing drug craving and relapse during abstinence.

A memory retrieval-extinction procedure to prevent drug craving and relapse. Science. 2012 Apr 13;336(6078):241-5.

Opiate gene

Kreek MJ.

Opiate addiction and cocaine addiction: underlying molecular neurobiology and genetics.

J Clin Invest. 2012 Oct 1;122(10):3387-93. doi: 10.1172/JCI60390. Epub 2012 Oct 1.

Methadone mortality Taiwan

Factors associated with mortality among heroin users after seeking treatment with

methadone: A population-based cohort study in Taiwan

• 1616 Taiwanese heroin users between October 2006 and December 2008, central Taiwan (National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch, St. Joseph's Hospital, China Medical University Beigang Hospital, and National Cheng Kung University Hospital Dou-Liou Branch),
• linkage with the National Death Certification Registry system
• Opiate Treatment Index (OTI),
• 26 (1.6%) people died, with an all-cause mortality rate per 100 person years of 3.42
• The primary cause of death  was
• accidents,
• suicide
• drug overdose
• Older age, HIV infection, psychiatric treatment history, and alcohol abuse/dependence were risk factors for all-cause mortality;
• remaining on MMT was protective for survival

Factors associated with mortality among heroin users after seeking treatment with methadone: A population-based cohort study in Taiwan. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2012 Sep 25. pii: S0740-5472(12)00138-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2012.08.003. [Epub ahead of print]


Charles Lung-Cheng Huang, M.D.a,b, Lee Chung-Wei, Master c
a Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan
b Department of Nursing, Chung-Hwa University of Medical Technology, Tainan, Taiwan
c Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch, Yun-Lin, Taiwan

Heroin gene postmortem

Method: We evaluated singlenucleotide polymorphisms of key genes within these systems in three populations of opiate abusers and controls, totaling 489 individuals from Europe and the United States with postmortem tissue.
Conclusion: Genetically influenced interactions between glutamatergic and dopaminergic pathways in opiate abusers


Dopamine receptor D1 and postsynaptic density gene variants associate with opiate abuse and striatal expression levels. Molecular Psychiatry (2012), 1–6

Methadone and perinatal outcomes

  A total of 117 pregnant women on methadone maintenance treatment recruited between July 2009 and July 2010.
 Information on concomitant drug use was recorded with the Addiction Severity
Index. Perinatal outcomes included pre-term birth (<37 weeks’ gestation), small-for-gestational-age (<10th centile) and neonatal unit admission. NAS outcomes included: incidence of medically treated NAS, peak Finnegan score, cumulative dose of NAS treatment and duration of hospitalization. Findings Of the 114 liveborn infants 11 (9.6%) were born pre-term, 49 (42.9%) were small-for-gestational-age, 56 (49.1%) had a neonatal unit admission and 29 (25.4%)were treated medically for NAS. Neonates exposed to methadone-only had a shorter hospitalization than those exposed to methadone and concomitant drugs (median 5.0 days versus 6.0 days, P = 0.03). Neonates exposed to methadone doses 80 mg required higher cumulative doses of morphine treatment for NAS (median 13.2 mg versus 19.3 mg,P = 0.03).The incidence and duration of NAS did not differ between the two dosage groups.
 Conclusions The incidence and duration of the neonatal abstinence syndrome is not associated with maternal methadone dose, but maternal opiate, benzodiazepine or cocaine use is associated with longer neonatal hospitalization

Methadone and perinatal outcomes: a prospective cohort study. Addiction. 2012 Aug;107(8):1482-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03844.x. Epub 2012 May 8.

Nucleus Accumbens Surgery for Addiction

  Our institute had performed this surgery in 272 patients with severe heroin addiction. The follow up study showed the 5 years non-relapse rate was 58% and the quality of life was significantly improved.

 

Nucleus Accumbens Surgery for Addiction. World Neurosurg. 2012 Oct 6. pii: S1878-8750(12)01106-0. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2012.10.007. [Epub ahead of print]