Wim van den Brink

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..The present study (Cocaine Addiction Treatments to improve Control and reduce Harm; CATCH) investigates the possibilities and problems associated with new pharmacological treatments for crack dependent patients...

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..To determine whether supervised medical prescription of heroin can successfully treat addicts who do not sufficiently benefit from methadone maintenance treatment...

..To provide an overview of treatment options for opioid-dependent patients...

..Evaluation of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) as a screen for identifying sexual and physical assault histories...

..Increased brain activation in related fronto-limbic brain areas was present in HSM with higher FTND scores compared with HSM with lower FTND scores...

..It is hypothesized that naltrexone exerts its effects primarily on cue-induced craving and neuroendocrine cue reactivity, whereas acamprosate exerts its effect primarily on autonomic nervous system reactions to alcohol-related cues...

..However, owing to the cross-sectional and retrospective nature of currently available studies, questions remain regarding the causal direction and clinical relevance of these findings...

..However, low level ecstasy use may increase (certain aspects of) sensation seeking...

..The neural correlates of cue-induced craving and anhedonia in opioid-dependent patients are, however, not well understood. We studied brain activation patterns following visual presentation of neutral, pleasant and heroin-related cues...

..This provides evidence for the matching potential of genotypes. It is expected that more effective treatments can be offered when genetic information is used in patient-treatment-matching...

..Although we do not know yet whether these effects are reversible or not, we cannot exclude that ecstasy even in low doses is neurotoxic to the brain...

..In both groups, in this blinded study heroin dose increments were more appreciated than dose reductions. Increments of 50% of the regular heroin dose did not cause any serious side effect...

..To determine the cost utility of medical co-prescription of heroin compared with methadone maintenance treatment for chronic, treatment resistant heroin addicts...

..The aim of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire on drinking motives that can distinguish relief and reward drinkers...

..These results are relevant for future studies on DIO when considering choice of diet type...

..Based on a review of the available literature, we hypothesize a potential role for varenicline in the prevention of relapse in patients recovering from drug dependence other than nicotine dependence...

..Neurotoxic effects of ecstasy have been reported, although it remains unclear whether effects can be attributed to ecstasy, other recreational drugs or a combination of these...

..In conclusion, Fluvoxamine treatment reduces the hyperresponsiveness of the HPA axis in BPD patients with a history of sustained childhood abuse. This effect is likely to be obtained in the first 6 weeks of treatment...

..We attempted to answer this question by conducting a trial among patients with a double diagnosis of alcohol dependence and agoraphobia or social phobia...

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..Together, these data show that HAT can now be considered a safe and proven-effective intervention for the treatment of chronic, treatment-resistant heroin dependent patients...

..CWM requires craving and withdrawal for the diagnosis of alcohol dependence and raises the alcohol abuse threshold to two DSM-IV AUD criteria...

..However, the relative contribution of alcohol use and AD is unclear...

..Moreover, the balance between cannabis approach and avoidance responses in the DLPFC and ACC may help identify individuals at-risk for cannabis use disorders and may be new targets for prevention and treatment...

..To identify independent risk factors of the recurrence of alcohol dependence (AD) in people with a remitted disorder at baseline and persistence of AD in people with a current disorder at baseline...

..The data are inconsistent with regard to comorbidity as a distinct psychopathological entity. These findings are of great importance for treatment planning in patients with alcohol dependence and comorbid anxiety disorders...

..Therefore, lower brain activation may not signify neurocognitive impairment, but could be the expression of a non-cognitive variable related to frequent cannabis use, for example changes in cerebral perfusion or differences in vigilance...

..The purpose of the present study was to find predictors of treatment success for comorbid anxiety disorders in alcohol-dependent patients...

..Illicit heroin use was observed in a limited percentage of patients. Overall agreement between self-report and markers of illicit heroin use was good...

..This review concludes with a discussion regarding the challenges and new developments in the field of neurobiological gambling research and comments on their implications for the treatment of PG...

..Inconsistent findings have been reported on the role of comorbid alcohol use disorders as risk factors for a persistent course of depressive and anxiety disorders...

..A gambling-related or positive context appears to facilitate response inhibition as indicated by lower brain activity and fewer behavioural errors in PRGs...

..However, acamprosate prevents lapses or relapses only in a minority of patients. An important question, therefore, is whether there is a specific subgroup of patients who respond particularly well to acamprosate...

..Studies in patients with substance use disorders point to hyporesponsiveness of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. However, no such data exist on behavioral addictions...

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..Response perseveration and ventral prefrontal hyporesponsiveness to monetary loss may be markers for maladaptive behavior seen in chemical and nonchemical addictions...

..To evaluate the validity of the EuroQol (EQ-5D) in a population of chronic, treatment-resistant heroin-dependent patients...

..Although we provide some evidence that [(123)I]beta-CIT SPECT may be used to measure SERTs in SERT-low cortical areas, these measurements must be interpreted with caution...

..Little is known about ecstasy effects later in life, when serotonin levels and cognition decrease as a consequence of normal ageing...

..To determine the patterns of acquisitive crime during methadone maintenance treatment among chronic, treatment-resistant heroin users eligible for heroin assisted treatment in the Netherlands...

..Small-animal imaging offers the opportunity to perform serial assessments. We evaluated whether high-resolution pinhole single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging in rats was able to reproduce previous ex vivo findings...

..To investigate in heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) compared to methadone maintenance treatment (MMT): the course of heroin craving and illicit heroin use, their mutual association, and their association with multi-domain treatment response...

..Additional studies are needed to replicate these findings...

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..The aim of this study is to assess the influence of early and late compliance of acamprosate on attendance and abstinence duration in the treatment of alcohol dependence...

..The Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) seems to measure certain aspects of craving, but its theoretical basis remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of alcohol craving, using OCDS data...

..To study the specificity of these neurocognitive deficits, a substance dependence group (alcohol dependence) and an impulse control disorder group (Tourette syndrome) were included...

..This study examines comorbidity of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence as well as its risk indicators among anxious and/or depressed persons, also considering temporal sequencing of disorders...

..Although the total prevalence of any alcohol use disorder did not differ between DSM-IV and CWM, the distinction between normality and abuse and between abuse and dependence was better for the CWM categories...

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..The aim of this study is to compare the co-occurrence of OCD with SUD to the co-occurrence of SUD with other psychiatric disorders in a representative community sample...

..To describe 4-year treatment retention and treatment response among chronic, treatment-resistant heroin-dependent patients offered long-term heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) in the Netherlands...

..Our results suggest that targeted prevention activities should focus in particular on young people who have strong intentions to take ecstasy, especially if they are also regular smokers of cannabis...

..However, follow-up interviews are time-consuming and costly. This study examines the feasibility and validity of low-budget telephonic follow-up interviews for ROM in a substance abuse treatment centre (SATC)...

..These observations suggest that increased DRD2/3 availability may contribute to varenicline's efficacy for smoking cessation and show promise for varenicline as a treatment of other types of drug dependence...

..Chronic craving and anhedonia were positively correlated with DA release. Treatment strategies that increase D2Rs may, therefore, be an interesting approach to prevent relapse in opiate addiction...

..It is hypothesized that this questionnaire will show higher concordance with measures of cue reactivity than existing self-report craving questionnaires...

..Other factors, such as no occasional use of heroin during the episode, no use of cocaine, and having a non-using partner, seem to be equally important...

..The latter is an alternative classification, which requires craving and withdrawal for alcohol dependence and raises the alcohol abuse threshold to two criteria...

..Pharmacokinetics of caffeine after inhalation and intravenous administration are to a large extent similar. The bioavailability of inhaled caffeine is approximately 60% in experienced smokers...

..Deficits in decision making and feedback processing in PG should be addressed in treatment and incorporated more explicitly in theoretical models of PG...

..Few studies investigated predictors for ecstasy use. Self-reported impulsivity does not predict the initiation of ecstasy use; the question is if neuropsychological indicators of impulsivity can predict first ecstasy use...

..The combined results will lead to conclusions that can be used in prevention messages, clinical decision making, and the development of an (inter)national ecstasy policy...

..The a priori allocation guidelines were followed for only a minority of the patients, and using them did not improve treatment outcome. Further work is needed to improve the content of the treatment allocation guidelines...

..More studies with bigger samples sizes of female alcohol-dependent patients are needed...

..No effect of 5-HTTLPR or gender on memory function or MDMA use was observed...

..To examine the feasibility of implementing evidence-based guidelines for patient-treatment-matching to levels of care in two Dutch substance abuse treatment centres...

..Because most studies have had a retrospective design, in which evidence is indirect and differs in the degree to which any causal links can be implied, longitudinal studies in human ecstasy users are needed to draw definite conclusions...

..Conceptually, the MATE was constructed according to the ICD and International Classification of Functioning (ICF) in the World Health Organization (WHO) classification system. Two of the ICF-related modules were newly designed...

..This study describes the incidence of overdose mortality in relation to time after (re)entering or leaving treatment...

..The objective of this study is to determine an indicator framework for addiction treatment centres based on the demands of stakeholders and in alignment with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model...

..Other polymorphisms in the DAT gene were not extensively studied. Therefore, we investigated whether polymorphisms in both 3' and 5' ends of the DAT gene show association with in vivo striatal DAT expression...

..However, little is known about the effects of ecstasy use or the combination of ecstasy and amphetamine use on dopamine (DA) neurones in the human brain...

..To describe the pulmonary function and prevalence of dyspnoea among methadone patients and to study the relation with exposure to heroin by inhaling...

..To provide an overview of the pharmacological options for the treatment of heroin- and cocaine-dependent patients based on known biochemical pathways to addiction and the chronic disease model as a starting point for treatment planning...

..Neurotoxic effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") on the serotonin (5-HT) system have been described in animals and humans, but little is known about long-term effects of ecstasy use on mood...

..Varenicline increases dopamine D(2/3) receptor availability in drug-naïve rats. Therefore, varenicline may be an effective treatment for addictions other than smoking...

..These results suggest that the COMT val(158)met polymorphism may affect age-related differences in gray and white matter density in females...

..Addition of stable, isotopically labelled heroin to pharmaceutical, smokable heroin is considered to be a feasible strategy for the detection of co-use of illicit heroin by patients in heroin-assisted treatment...

..To examine the diagnostic accuracy of the four-item self-report and parent-report versions of the CAGE-AID as a screen for substance-use disorders (SUD) among adolescents in mental health care...

..A framework for future studies is suggested, indicating the need for studies that integrate knowledge from different research areas, and that employ stricter diagnostic screening methods and inclusion of clinical control groups...

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..This could be related to the different neurotransmitter systems these drugs predominantly act upon, that is, serotonin (ecstasy) vs dopamine (amphetamine) systems...

..Finally, there is strong evidence that CRA with abstinence-contingent "incentives" is more effective than CRA (non-contingent incentives) treatment aimed at cocaine abstinence...

..e. self-reported impulsivity and neuropsychological indicators such as behavioural control and delay of gratification...

..Recent studies provide evidence for specific aspects of cue processing in addictive disorders...

..To investigate whether DSM-IV abuse and dependence criteria and the ICD-10 criterion for craving differentially predict a chronic course of alcohol use disorders (AUD) in the general population...

..The negative association between substance dependence and the violent nature of the index offense needs further investigation...

..Cue exposure therapy (CET) aims to reduce this cue reactivity by exposing abstinent drug users to conditioned drug-related stimuli while preventing their habitual response, i.e. drug use...

..In the present study, the predictive value of pre-treatment attentional bias on relapse was examined in a population of abstinent heroin addicts. Further, the effect of cue exposure therapy (CET) on attentional bias was studied...

..It is concluded that a small set of static predictors yielded a good estimate of future reconvictions; inclusion of dynamic predictors did not add predictive power...

..The paper systematically addresses concerns about heroin prescribing and suggests further research to respond to some unanswered questions...

..However, no effect of haloperidol on subjective craving was found. These findings provide preliminary indications that attentional bias in heroin dependent humans is mediated by dopaminergic mechanisms...

..However, oral and intranasal delivery systems might be improved and become suitable for use by heroin dependent patients...

..However, the data suggest that a combination of naltrexone with cognitive behavioural relapse prevention therapy is beneficial in alcohol dependent patients...