ABSTRACT
The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) is a reliable and valid tool to early detection in the harmful and hazardous drug use in primary care settings when administered by interview in the general population. As the risk of substance related problems in university students is high, it is necessary to have screening instruments that can be used beyond the health care settings. Thus, we compared a self-report adaptation of ASSIST with the validated interview format in a convenience sample of university students. A counter-balance design was chosen with students alternating between the interview and the self-report formats. Both formats were completed by all students (n=170) over 30 days. The scores for total involvement, tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine obtained from the two formats demonstrated good intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC >0.60). The agreement assessed by kappa between questions of the two formats was considered moderate for tobacco (0.76) and cannabis (0.69) and discrete for alcohol (0.47). The consistency of the self-report questionnaire was also good to moderate (Cronbach's alpha of 0.90 for tobacco, 0.71 for alcohol, 0.86 for cannabis and 0.89 for cocaine) and showed acceptable sensitivity (66.7-100%) and specificity (83.5-97.1%) for tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine when compared to the ASSIST interview format (gold standard). The findings suggest that self-report version is as acceptable as the interview and that the scores on the two formats are comparable. However, the participants reported more motivation for change behavior and more concern about substance use when they were interviewed.
Subject(s)
Early Diagnosis , Mass Screening/methods , Substance Abuse Detection/methods , Substance-Related Disorders/diagnosis , Surveys and Questionnaires/standards , Adolescent , Adult , Alcohol Drinking/adverse effects , Alcohol-Related Disorders/diagnosis , Brazil , Female , Humans , Male , Reproducibility of Results , Smoking/adverse effects , Students/psychology , Tobacco Use Disorder/diagnosis , Universities , Young AdultABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to evaluate the actions of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug flunixin-meglumin (FM) on the changes caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis in the rat liver. Eight groups of five adult male Wistar rats were analysed: (1) saline injected (controls), (2) FM treated with 1.1 mg/kg, (3) FM treated with 2.2 mg/kg, (4) LPS-injected (10 mg/kg), (5) LPS-injected with 1.1 mg/kg FM pretreatment, (6) LPS-injected with 2.2 mg/kg FM pretreatment, (7) LPS-injected with 1.1 mg/kg FM post-treatment and (8) LPS-injected with 2.2 mg/kg FM post-treatment. All drugs were intraperitoneally injected. The following parameters were evaluated: plasma levels of hepatic enzymes and urea, hepatic histological characteristics, antioxidant enzymes and several metabolic fluxes. The latter comprised gluconeogenesis, ureagenesis and oxygen consumption. Liver damage in LPS-induced sepsis was characterized by histological changes, increased plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase (P < 0.001) and diminished gluconeogenesis (P < 0.001) and ureagenesis (P < 0.01). LPS also induced oxidative stress as evidenced by increased catalase (P < 0.05) and superoxide dismutase activities and enhanced lipid peroxidation (P < 0.001). Pretreatment of the animals with FM minimized the histological changes and normalized, in part, all enzymatic activities. Pretreatment of the animals with FM also normalized gluconeogenesis and partly restored ureagenesis (P < 0.05). These and other results show that LPS-induced sepsis may lead to severe liver damage, affecting both structure and function. Treatment with FM can be used to avoid this damage. The antioxidant properties of FM can be, partly at least, responsible for this protective action.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/pharmacology , Antioxidants/pharmacology , Clonixin/analogs & derivatives , Lipopolysaccharides/pharmacology , Liver/drug effects , Sepsis/prevention & control , Alanine Transaminase/metabolism , Animals , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/administration & dosage , Antioxidants/administration & dosage , Aspartate Aminotransferases/metabolism , Catalase/metabolism , Clonixin/administration & dosage , Clonixin/pharmacology , Gluconeogenesis , Injections, Intraperitoneal , Lipid Peroxidation/drug effects , Liver/metabolism , Male , Oxygen Consumption/drug effects , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Sepsis/etiology , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Urea/metabolismABSTRACT
Brown spider bites cause dermonecrotic lesions and systemic manifestations known as loxoscelism. The Loxosceles intermedia venom contains many active proteins, as phospholipase D. There are reports of increased levels of hepatic transaminases in humans with loxoscelism, but detailed studies about the action of the Loxosceles intermedia venom on the liver functions are lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the venom and the dermonecrotic recombinant toxin 1 (LiRecDT1) in the liver of Wistar rats injected subcutaneously with venom (80 microg) or toxin (80 microg). After 6 and 12h the liver immunofluorescence was positive for venom and toxin. Hepatocytes from the venom group were tumefacted and apoptotic. There was leucocyte infiltration in the portal region combined with a high degree of steatosis in 12h. In the toxin group the histological alterations were less severe. Plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and gamma-glutamyl-transferase were significantly elevated only in the venom group in 6h. Hepatic metabolism was modified: the venom, but not LiRecDT1, reduced gluconeogenesis and ureagenesis from alanine and glycogen accumulation. These results show that the venom is hepatotoxic and that the dermonecrotic toxin is only partly responsible.
