International Journal of High Risk Behaviors and Addiction
Volume:9 Issue: 4, Dec 2020

Context: 

Several investigations have shown that people in an adoption situation have a higher frequency of mental problems or disorders than the general population. However, no known meta-analysis consolidates information about the association between the adoption situation and suicide attempt.

 We aimed to systematically evaluate the primary observational studies that quantified the association between the being adopted and suicide attempt.

 A systematic review was designed that used a logical strategy based on specific descriptors in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, in combination with the Boolean operators (AND, OR). The search was performed on the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Health Virtual Library, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, PsycArticles, BioMed Central, and Sage Journal. Articles were included until December 2018. The quality of the studies was evaluated with a tool based on the STROBE criteria.

 Six studies met the inclusion criteria. Three studies used case-control designs and the remaining three were cohort studies. Case-control studies computed 69 suicide attempts in 1,216 adopted people compared to 436 attempts amidst 20,555 non-adopted people (OR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.24 - 4.28, I2 = 61%). Cohort studies computed 536 suicide attempts among 36,965 people in adoption compared to 15,112 attempts in 3,118,069 non-adopted people (RR = 2.99, 95% CI 2.54 - 3.53, I2 = 73%).

 The adoption situation can increase suicide attempts; it predicts at least two times more cases of suicide attempts among adopted people than in the general population.

 Long-term use of Methamphetamine (MA) can impose some deficits by its toxicity on the brain structure and function. It can also alter brain electrical activity and cortico-cortical neural connections. The coherence index of electroencephalography reflects the temporal integration of electrical oscillations between different sites of the brain and could be affected by the chronic use of MA.

 In this study, we aimed to compare quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) coherence as an index of brain connectivity between methamphetamine users and healthy people.

 In this descriptive-analytical study, 18 patients with methamphetamine abstinence and 18 healthy people with no history of psychiatric illness were evaluated. Electroencephalography was recorded during eyes-open and eyes-closed states for each group, and then, the analysis for coherence between different twin electrodes was performed. The evaluation was done on occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes. Repeated-measures ANOVA and t-test were conducted for statistical analysis (P < 0.05).

 Coherence differences in frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes were not significant while coherence was significantly different in parietal lobes between the groups (P = 0.03), so that a decrease in C3-CZ electrode coherence in both delta and theta bands in methamphetamine users was significant (P = 0.03 and P = 0.01, respectively).

 It was revealed that brain coherence could be changed after the chronic use of MA, especially in slow waves. This could be an indicator of structural and functional damage in the neuronal population and show less regional integration in cortical areas in MA users, possibly due to substance toxicity.
 

 People who used drugs (PWUDs) use excessive alcohol and illicit drugs that pose a serious threat to families, society, and the nation’s health and socioeconomic status. They are also vulnerable to vitamin and mineral deficiencies that may threaten their physical and mental health and weaken their immune system. Nutrition plays an important role in the rehabilitation of PWUDs; hence, it must be integrated into the recovery programs in treatment and rehabilitation centers (TRCs).

 This study was done to assess and benchmark the nutrition care processes offered to PWUDs in selected government-owned and private TRCs in the Philippines.
Patients and

 This cross-sectional study was conducted in 19 TRCs coming from both government (n = 9) and private (n = 10) rehabilitation centers as samples from Regions I, III, IV-A, VI, XI, and National Capital Region. A total of 45 key personnel from the selected TRCs were interviewed. The information gathered by interview of the director and other key personnel on the nutrition care processes and programs offered in the center, ocular observation on dietary facilities, as well as document reviews of existing hospital policies and services.

 Nutrition services, such as anthropometric measurements (weight and height) were only conducted in 17 TRCs, while dietary assessment (plate waste) was done only in four TRCs. None of the TRCs were able to provide nutrition counseling or education for the PWUDs. Most TRCs (57.9%) did not have their own Registered Nutritionist Dietitians (RND), and the majority (78.9%) provided uncalculated diet to PWUDs. The mean cost of meals per day was higher in the private TRCs (USD 0.96) than the government TRCs (USD 0.8). In terms of facilities, most of the TRCs had no dietary rooms (68.4%), and some of the government TRCs had no appropriate dining areas (33.3%).

 TRCs do not follow the nutritional care process in the management of PWUDs, even in some TRCs with RNDs, because they lack the environment and infrastructure to do this. These services are vital for the holistic management of PWUDs for improved quality of life. A viable recommendation is to develop a Nutrition Management Guidelines to be integrated into the manual of operations of the department of health for TRCs.
 

 Illegal drug abuse is an important challenge that is not adequately addressed with respect to gerontology in rural areas.

 In this cross-sectional study 641 people aged 60 years or older supported by rural health centers in Southern Iran were investigated (310 and 331 men and women, respectively). To take a sample size of 326, snowball sampling was used. Then, the sample size was developed and simulated to 1.65 million rural elderly using the Monte Carlo simulation and bootstrapping technique (upon the 2016 national census), calculated in SPSS V.25. The ASSIST-WHO, 2017 instrument was used to collect the data.

 A significant difference was found between the mean sub-variables of marital status using the MANOVA. Widowhood and divorce had more impact on the tendency to addiction compared to the other factors on marital status. Nomads and farmers were more vulnerable to be addicted than those occupied in the public sector. It was also confirmed by the Eta2 coefficient that older men feeling loneliness have a higher tendency to commit risky behaviors.

 Being a nomad or framer and widowhood and divorce increased the tendency of male elderly towards illegal drugs. Further studies are required to develop guidelines for policy-makers concerning the rural aging community.
 

 In 2018, the Nigerian Communication Commission affirmed that more than 100 million Nigerians made use of the Internet. A good percentage of internet usage is maladaptive. A valid, reliable, and socio-culturally sensitive assessment instrument is essential to study internet usage patterns in Nigeria. Young’s Internet Addiction test (IAT) has been validated in many countries, but not in Nigeria.

 This study aimed to validate IAT to determine psychometric properties acceptable in a Nigerian population.

 A total of 184 Nigerian University undergraduates (77 males and 107 females), mean age = 20.5, were purposively drawn, and they responded to IAT, the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), and the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS).

 The Cronbach’s α of the six IAT factors ranged from 0.25 (anticipation) to 0.69 (salience). The observed overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.79 was obtained for IAT. The corrected item-total correlations ranged from 0.73 to 0.84. The concurrent validity score was observed to be r = 0.54 between IAT and SAS-SV and r = 0.58 between IAT and BFAS. A significant positive correlation was equally observed between the IAT and BFAS factors, ranging from conflict (r = 0.322, P = 0.000) to relapse (r = 0.488, P = 0.000). The new norm determined for IAT in the Nigerian population was ≥ 38.5 for males and ≥ 40.8 for females.

 IAT is gender-sensitive and has acceptable psychometric properties for the Nigerian population.

 Social network sites (SNS) addiction has recently been a major concern and a common problem worldwide that makes it essential to examine the specifications of users and identify antecedents of it.

 This study aimed at examining the relationship between attachment style and social media addiction with the mediating role of personality traits.

 In this research, the sample population was comprised of all of the students of universities in Tehran, Iran, during the academic year of 2018 - 2019. The participants (n = 241) were selected from universities in Tehran using the conventional method. The data were collected using measure of attachment qualities (MAQ), Social Media Disorder scale (SMDS), and Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), and then the data were analyzed using the chi-square, correlation coefficient, and structural modeling tests by SPSS and LISREL software.

 The results showed there is a significant relationship between the worry-ambivalent (r = 0.308, P < 0.05) and the disorganize-ambivalent (r = 0.322, P < 0.05) (attachment styles) and the SNS addiction. Moreover, the structural model showed that among attachment styles, the ambivalence-disorganize attachment could mediate the social network addiction based on the character dimension of self-directedness (CFI: 0.94, NFI: 0.92, RMSEA: 0.09).

 The character dimension of self-directedness can reduce the adverse effects of insecure attachment and thus reduce the risk of addiction to SNS.

 There is an increasing trend in treatment demand for opioid dependence among adolescents in Iran. However, evidence regarding effective treatment in this population is very limited.

 This study aimed to compare the efficacy of clonidine and buprenorphine for inpatient medically-assisted withdrawal of adolescents with opioid dependence aged 12 and 16 years.

 The study is an open-label, randomized controlled trial with convenience sampling. In total, 36 adolescents took part in this study who were randomly assigned to buprenorphine or clonidine groups. The Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale was used to monitor the withdrawal severity on days one, two, three, seven, and 14.

 The findings showed both treatments were effective. However, withdrawal symptoms in the buprenorphine group showed a greater reduction in the first seven days of withdrawal treatment. There was no significant difference in the length of hospitalization between the two groups. Patients with a longer duration of opioid use showed higher levels of withdrawal symptoms in the buprenorphine group on days one and three.

 Buprenorphine treatment was found to be more effective than clonidine in controlling opioid withdrawal during the initial days of treatment. However, it lost its superiority towards the end of the follow-up. It seems that clonidine could be a good alternative to buprenorphine in the medically-assisted withdrawal of adolescents with opioid dependence.

The prevalence of high-risk behaviors among professional athletes as role models for their fans, especially adolescents and young people, is important to be considered. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HRBs in Iranian professional athletes. This cross-sectional study included 1,940 athletes that were active in eight popular sports from 12 cities of the country. Data were collected using stratified random sampling and a self-made high-risk behavior questionnaire. To analyze the data, descriptive statistical methods were used. The results showed the prevalence of doping among professional athletes was 3%. Besides, 0.3% of the professional athletes on average smoke daily, and 2% used shisha (smoking water pipes) daily. Moreover, 2.5% of professional athletes drunk alcohol at least one time per month. Also, the prevalence of violence involvement among professional athletes was 4.1%, and the prevalence of illicit drug use was 0.3%. The research results showed all high-risk behaviors were prevalent to some degree among professional athletes.