Drug and alcohol dependence
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Apr 2007
Comparison of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drug usage among school students in three Pacific Island societies.
Many Pacific Island countries are in social and epidemiological transition, but there are little population data about drug and alcohol usage among adolescents in this region. ⋯ Overall, levels of adolescent substance use were consistently higher in Tonga and Pohnpei than in Vanuatu. These unique data provide a basis for setting priorities and evaluating action to address the health risks posed by substance use in these Pacific Island societies.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Apr 2007
Relationship between N-acetyl-aspartate in gray and white matter of abstinent methamphetamine abusers and their history of drug abuse: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.
Altered concentrations of the brain metabolites, including N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) and myo-inositol (MI), may indicate neurotoxicity associated with drug abuse. In this study, the authors explored differences in brain metabolites between abstinent methamphetamine (MA) abusers and healthy comparison subjects and the associations between metabolite concentrations and clinical characteristics. ⋯ The current findings suggest that MA-induced metabolic alterations of frontal gray and white matter are dose-dependent, for primarily male subjects. Additionally, these findings potentially suggest that the MA-related abnormalities may, in part, recover with abstinence in gray matter, but not in the white matter regions.