No abstract available.
Dizocilpine Maleate* ; Dopamine* ; Methamphetamine*

Failure in achieving abstinence in methamphetamine dependence population is a common scenario. The use of methamphetamine in pregnancy however, was not so often brought to attention. This report highlights the challenges and issues encountered in the management of a pregnant lady with the problem of methamphetamine dependence, who presented with psychosis. Among the areas outlined were issues in commencing treatment for methamphetamine psychosis, presence of psychosocial conditions that impeded total abstinence and the risks of methamphetamine use during pregnancy.
Methamphetamine ; Pregnancy Women

A patient developed persistent parkinsonism after intravenously injecting a high dose of methamphetamine. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed bilateral hypoxic/ischemic basal ganglia damage, which could have been caused by the vasoconstrictive effect of methamphetamine. This case adds some circumstantial evidence to the association between methamphetamine and Parkinsonism. Key words: Parkinsonism; methamphetamine; substance use disorders
Parkinsonian Disorders ; Methamphetamine

Background: According to the guidelines of the Department of Health (DOH)’s Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau (HFSRB), accreditation of drug testing laboratories (DTLs) requires annual participation in a proficiency testing (PT) program. Since 2009, the National Reference Laboratory for Environmental and Occupational Health, Toxicology and Micronutrient Assay of the East Avenue Medical Center (NRL-EAMC) has conducted the PT program for DTLs. Objectives: This article aims to provide a general overview of the PT program conducted for screening drug testing laboratories (SDTLs) and to examine data on laboratories’ participation and performance in the PT program. Methodology: Laboratories registered for the PT program were given ten 3-mL synthetic urine specimens which may or may not contain drugs of abuse such as methamphetamine and tetrahydrocannabinol at or above the cut-off level. Laboratories analyzed the PT specimens using immunoassay test kits. The results of the analysis were reported back to NRL-EAMC. The performance of the laboratories in the PT depends on the number of incorrect responses. Results: For ten years (2009-2019), 1102 ± 188 laboratories annually participated in the program. The mean passing rate was 96.6 ± 4.8%. The number of laboratories which initially failed the PT program significantly decreased from 2009 (15.1%) to 2012 (1.5%). From 2013 to 2019, only below 2.5% of the participating laboratories initially failed the PT. On average, 48.4 ± 18.4% of the laboratories achieved an excellent performance, 34.0 ± 13.6% had a highly satisfactory performance, and 14.3 ± 5.4% got an acceptable performance. Conclusion The continued decreasing number of laboratories which failed the PT signifies the improvement of laboratories in urine drug testing. In general, some laboratories participating in the PT for the first time are the ones which initially fail the PT which could be due to a lack of experience in handling PT test items. The PT program highlights the effectiveness of quality control procedures being implemented in a drug testing laboratory.
Laboratories ; Quality Control ; Accreditation ; Methamphetamine

Administration, Inhalation ; Humans ; Methamphetamine ; Myocardial Infarction

Human ; Male ; Female ; Methamphetamine ; Philippines ; Pharmaceutical Preparations

The mechanism of methamphetamine toxicity and addiction is the key research direction of forensic toxicology, and the development of omics technology provides a new platform for further study of this direction. METH toxic damage and addiction are reflected differently in genes, ribonucleic acid (RNA) transcription, protein and metabolism. This article summarizes the achievements and shortcomings of multi-omics technologies such as genome, transcriptome, metabolome and proteome in the study of METH damage and addiction, and discusses the strategies and advantages of multi-omics combined analysis in the study of METH toxic damage and addiction mechanism, in order to provide more useful reference information for forensic toxicology of METH.
Metabolome ; Metabolomics ; Methamphetamine/toxicity* ; Proteome ; Proteomics

Fournier gangrene is a fulminant infection of the genitalia, perineum, or abdominal wall. It is a life threatening progressive disease that requires aggressive surgical therapy and broad spectrum antibiotic treatment. We present one case of Fournier gangrene after penile methamphetamine injection.
Abdominal Wall ; Fournier Gangrene ; Genitalia ; Male ; Methamphetamine ; Penis ; Perineum

OBJECTIVE: The noradrenaline system is involved in the reward effects of various kinds of abused drugs. Betaxolol (BTX) is a highly selective β1-antagonist. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of BTX on methamphetamine (MAP)-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and hyperactivity in mice. METHODS: The mice (n=72) were treated with MAP or saline every other day for a total of 6 days (from day 3 to day 8; 3-times MAP and 3-times saline). Each mouse was given saline (1 mL/kg) or MAP (1 mg/kg, s.c.) or BTX (5 mg/kg, i.p.) or MAP with BTX (5 mg/kg, i.p.) 30 min prior to the administration of MAP (1 mg/kg, s.c.) every other day and paired with for 1 h (three-drug and three-saline sessions). We then compared the CPP score between the two groups. After the extinction of CPP, the mice were given BTX (5 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline (1 mL/kg) 24 h prior to a priming injection of MAP, and were then immediately tested to see whether the place preference was reinstated. RESULTS: The repeated administration of BTX 30 min prior to the exposure to MAP significantly reduced the development of MAP-induced CPP. When BTX was administered 24 h prior to the CPP-testing session on day 9, it also significantly attenuated the CPP, but did not result in any change of locomotor activity. In the drug-priming reinstatement study, the extinguished CPP was reinstated by a MAP (0.125 mg/kg, s.c.) injection and this was significantly attenuated by BTX. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that BTX has a therapeutic and preventive effect on the development, expression, and drug-priming reinstatement of MAP-induced CPP.
Animals ; Betaxolol* ; Methamphetamine* ; Mice* ; Motor Activity ; Norepinephrine ; Reward

To explore the mechanism for changes in brain microstructure in long-term abstinent from methamphetamine-dependence by using the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
 Methods: A total of 26 patients with long-term abstinent methamphetamine-dependence, whose abstinence time more than 14 months, and 26 normal controls all underwent cognitive executive function tests and DTI scans. We used voxel-based analysis to compare the fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) to obtain the abnormal brain regions of DTI parameters between the two groups. Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between FA, MD of the brain regions with abnormal parameters and cognitive executive function tests.
 Results: There were no statistical differences in the cognitive executive function tests between the two groups (P>0.05). Compared with the normal control group, the long-term abstinent from methamphetamine-dependence group showed the decreased FA in the right precuneus, right superior frontal gyrus, right calcarine, left inferior temporal gyrus and the increased MD in the right triangular part of inferior frontal gyrus, right precuneus, right posterior cingulate, right middle temporal gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, left superior parietal lobule, and lobule VIII of cerebellar hemisphere. The MD values of the right middle temporal gyrus in the long-term abstinent group were negatively correlated with the number of completions within 60 seconds (r=-0.504) and within 120 seconds (r=-0.464) .
 Conclusion: The DTI parameters in multiple brain regions from the methamphetamine-dependence patients are still abnormal after a long-term abstinence. DTI can provide imaging evidence for brain microstructural abnormalities in long-term abstinent from methamphetamine-dependence.
Amphetamine-Related Disorders ; Anisotropy ; Brain ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Humans ; Methamphetamine