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A bitter pill. Overview of ecstasy (MDMA, MDA) related fatalities.

RATIONALE: The issue of ecstasy-related fatalities has extensively attracted the attention of both the media and the general public, but less so of the scientific literature. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present review is to focus on the epidemiological, clinical and pharmacological issues related to ecstasy fatalities. RESULTS: Possibly due to a number of different reasons, the rates of ecstasy-related deaths seem to have peaked in recent years. MDMA metabolism is regulated by the levels of CYP2D6 and COMT (both exhibit some genetic polymorphism), and range of activity of these enzymes may account for some inter-individual differences in terms of toxic responses to the drug. A small increase in MDMA dosage can lead to a significant rise in drug plasma concentration. Due to their tolerance to MDMA psychoactive effects, some individuals may binge with dosages that may be the cause of serious concern. In experienced users, a reverse tolerance phenomenon can also be observed. Together with ecstasy, most of the misusers take a number of different compounds and the possible rationale of this style of consumption is commented upon here. Frequently, the lethal complications observed after acute MDMA administration can be the consequence of the occurrence of a serotonin syndrome and/or of sympathomimetic overstimulation (both conditions are exacerbated by environmentally induced overheating). CONCLUSIONS: A number of methodological problems can contribute to making difficult the interpretation of the role played by ecstasy in so-called ecstasy-related deaths, especially so if accurate information is not available.

Amphetamine-Related Disorders↗

Regulatory drinking in rats with permanent access to a bitter fluid source.

Male rats were given a quinine adulterated fluid as their sole source of liquid for over 60 days. After a latency of a few days, fluid intake stabilised at about 20 ml/day, with the water to food ratio close to 1.0 ml/g. Bodyweights fell to 90 percent of control levels (rats drinking unadulterated water). A battery of dipsogenic challenges was administered. Compared to controls, the ingestive responses during elevated ambient temperature, hyperosmotic salty food, after fluid deprivation, and to extracellular fluid depletion, were all attentuated. Drinking to acute NaCl injections was totally abolished. The intake of the adulterated fluid was near zero during food deprivation, and when a vegetable and fruit diet was available. Body fluid changes were suggestive of a net dehydration in the quinine drinking rats. Parallels with self intravenous drinking rats and rats recovered from lateral hypothalamic lesions were considered, and possible fundamental differences between natural and nonatural thirst stimuli.

Animals↗

Peptides with antilipolytic and lipogenic activities from seeds of the bitter gourd Momordica charantia (family Cucurbitaceae).

Decorticated Momordica charantia seeds were extracted with acidic ethanol. The pH of the extract was adjusted to 8 and the resulting precipitate was chromatographed on CM Sepharose CL-6B and then desalted on Sephadex G-10. A number of factors which exhibited antilipolytic and lipogenic activities in rat adipocytes were isolated. Two of the factors were demonstrated to be peptides with similar amino acid compositions and a molecular weight of approximately 8000. However the peptides greatly differed in their chromatographic behavior on CM-Sepharose CL-6B and in their mobilities in agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal↗

'We are bitter but we are satisfied': nurses as street-level bureaucrats in South Africa.

This study investigates how a group of nurses based in busy urban primary care health clinics experienced the implementation of the free care (the removal of fees) and other South African national health policies introduced after 1996. The study aimed to capture the perceptions and perspectives of front-line providers (street-level bureaucrats) concerning the process of policy implementation. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, the study paid particular attention to the personal and professional consequences of the free care policy; the factors which influence nurses' responses to policy changes such as free care; and what they perceive to be barriers to effective policy implementation. The research reveals firstly that nurses' views and values inform their implementation of health policy; secondly that nurses feel excluded from the process of policy change; and finally that social, financial and human resources are insufficiently incorporated into the policy implementation process. The study recommends that the practice of policy change be viewed through the lens of the 'street-level bureaucrat' and highlights three sets of related managerial actions.

Adult↗