Substance use and knowledge among Italian high school students.

AIMS: This study was aimed for evaluation of Italian students' attitudes to addictive substances, their knowledge and personal experience, and their awareness about the risks. METHODS: The research was realized among high school students from Marche region in the Central Italy in the year 2006; the study group was randomly chosen from all schools in the region. 4118 appropriately completed questionnaires returned. The statistic processing was carried out by using chi-square test for two qualitative variables.

Alcohol use in Czech pharmacy students.

In academic years 2002/3-2004/5, the use of alcohol was investigated by anonymous questionnaire in 1,032 first and third year pharmacy students in the Czech Republic. Frequencies of beer, wine and spirits use, the age of the first contact with alcoholic beverages, the age of the first drunkenness and the frequency of drunkenness in the last month were ascertained. Average age of the first contact with alcoholic beverages was 12.9 years. 40.5% and 10.9% of students reported regular and hazardous drinking, respectively, with significantly higher proportion of men than women. Hazardous alcohol drinking significantly increased between academic years 2002/3 and 2004/5, no significant differences were found in the proportion of non-drinkers and regular alcohol drinkers over the 3-year-period of the survey. Both regular and hazardous drinking patterns were significantly related to the financial situation of the students. Significant associations were also found between alcohol consumption and using of both licit and illicit drugs of abuse.

Effects of oral alpha-tocopherol on lung response in rat model of allergic asthma.

OBJECTIVE AND BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease in which an oxidant/antioxidant imbalance plays an important role. d-alpha-tocopherol (biologically the most active form of vitamin E) has redox properties and by scavenging the free radicals can act as an antioxidant. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of orally administered alpha-tocopherol in a rat model of allergic asthma. METHODOLOGY: Actively sensitized rats (OA) were treated with alpha-tocopherol (400 mg/kg/day for 10 days) or vehicle; 1 h after the last dose, they were challenged with antigen aerosol. The antigen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness to direct bronchoconstrictor (serotonin), the inflammatory cell infiltrate and histological changes were determined 1 or 24 h after the antigen challenge. RESULTS: Alpha-tocopherol pretreatment was not significantly effective at reducing the studied parameters when compared with controls, even though there was a tendency to a reduction in bronchial responsiveness and in eosinophil and neutrophil infiltration. CONCLUSION: Alpha-tocopherol when administered in the chosen study design in an animal model of asthma had no major effect on airway inflammation. The effect of antioxidants deserves further evaluation.

Use of marijuana in pharmacy students (2000-2005).

In 2000-2005, a survey on the consumption of legal and illegal drugs of abuse was conducted in 1571 students of Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University in Prague. The availability of cannabis and the prevalence rates of its use in university students were investigated. A standardized anonymous questionnaire was employed for the survey. The average age of respondents was 20 years. The number of females was higher (82.8 %) than that of males. Marijuana was the most available and the most commonly used illegal drug of abuse in the group of pharmacy students. Its offer and the life-time prevalence increased over the 5 year period of the survey from 55.8 % to 72.9 % and from 30.3 % to 48.4 %, respectively. There was a predominance of the male users over the female ones, mainly in a category of high frequency of marijuana consumption ("used more than five times"). Almost three quarters of marijuana consumers admitted more than one experience with marijuana. Our data provide worrying statistics and support the need of continuous education also in university students to advise them on the risks of drug misuse.

Natural opium as one of the possibilities for drug abusers.

Natural opium is a popular seasonal alternation for substance dependent people. Its processing, way of using, experience and change of habits was the aim of our study carried out via anonymous questionnaire and directed interview. 47 questionnaires were obtained. According to our results natural opium has been abused by people 19-42 years old, more than a half of them were male. Basic drug were pervitin in 57 %, marihuana in 33 %, a considerable part (30 %) was natural opium. Each grower produced approximately 35 g of raw opium in one season. The most frequent way of application was smoking, injecting and "opium tea" drinking. Almost a half of the clients (40 %) felt attenuation after application; relaxation, hallucination and central stimulation admitted 25 % of respondents. Health troubles had majority of the users. Combinations of natural opium with other drugs (alcohol, marihuana, pervitin) declared 45 % respondents, the effects of the combinations admitted one third of users. The examination for viral hepatitis confirmed more than a half of the clients; the major part of users from Olomouc, but only 25 % of users from Prostejov were tested for HIV. Opium consumption influenced habits of personal hygiene of more than a half of the users (57 %). Routine servicing of the spot of the needle insertion practiced a half of the responders. Majority of the abusers (79 %) obtained and closed out paraphernalia throw to the "harm reduction" program.

Survey on cannabis use in Parkinson's disease: subjective improvement of motor symptoms.

An anonymous questionnaire sent to all patients attending the Prague Movement Disorder Centre revealed that 25% of 339 respondents had taken cannabis and 45.9% of these described some form of benefit.