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Query: UMLS:C0917801 (insomnia)
 10,606 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The present work is a mini-review of the author's original work on the plant Passiflora incarnata Linn., which is used in several parts of the world as a traditional medicine for the management of anxiety, insomnia, epilepsy and morphine addiction. A tri-substituted benzoflavone moiety (BZF) has been isolated from the bioactive methanol extract of this plant, which has been proposed in the author's earlier work to be responsible for the biological activities of this plant. The BZF moiety has exhibited significantly encouraging results in the reversal of tolerance and dependence of several addiction-prone psychotropic drugs, including morphine, nicotine, ethanol, diazepam and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, during earlier pharmacological studies conducted by the author. In addition to this, the BZF moiety has exhibited aphrodisiac, libido-enhancing and virility-enhancing properties in 2-year-old male rats. When administered concomitantly with nicotine, ethanol and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol for 30 days in male rats, the BZF also prevented the drug-induced decline in sexuality in male rats. Because the BZF moiety isolated from P. incarnata is a tri-substituted derivative of alpha-naphthoflavone (7,8-benzoflavone), a well-known aromatase-enzyme inhibitor, the mode of action of BZF has been postulated to be a neurosteroidal mechanism vide in which the BZF moiety prevents the metabolic degradation of testosterone and upregulates blood - testosterone levels in the body. As several flavonoids (e.g. chrysin, apigenin) and other phytoconstituents also possess aromatase-inhibiting properties, and the IC50 value of such phytomoieties is the main factor determining their biochemical efficacy, by altering their chemical structures to attain a desirable IC50 value new insights in medical therapeutics can be attained, keeping in view the menace of drug abuse worldwide.
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PMID:Drug/substance reversal effects of a novel tri-substituted benzoflavone moiety (BZF) isolated from Passiflora incarnata Linn.--a brief perspective. 1469 Aug 74

Demographic trends reveal the elderly to be the fastest growing segment of the population. Physicians can therefore anticipate to be faced with a growing number of older patients with alcohol-related problems. It is now being increasingly recognized that alcoholism does not only concern the young population, but can appear for the first time late in life. One third of older alcoholic people develop a problem with alcohol in later life, while the other two thirds grow older with the medical and psychosocial sequelae of early-onset alcoholism. In addition, as the number of the elderly increases, clinicians are more faced with patients who began drinking earlier in life and who continue to do so late on life. Furthermore, increasing age is associated with a higher prevalence of chronic disease and use of medication that may interact to amplify the effects of alcohol. Alcohol may cause or worsen chronic illnesses or symptoms such as insomnia, depression, and hypertension. On the other hand, older drinkers are therefore more likely to have adverse consequences of drinking at lower levels of alcohol consumption, and these consequences are likely to be more severe. In this paper, we review the prevalence of geriatric alcoholism, the drinking pattern seen in the elderly i.e., early vs. late onset alcoholism, and we expose the danger of alcohol problems underdiagnosis. In addition, we review the comorbidities associated with alcohol use and finally we discuss treatment options.
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PMID:[Alcoholism and aging. 1. Epidemiology, clinical aspects and treatment]. 1568 55

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between housing status, associated social networks and risk factors for heroin-related death. We used semi-structured face-to-face qualitative interviews, recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically by framework techniques at three centres providing services to homeless people in a large cosmopolitan city. Different types of accommodation for homeless people have differing social cultures which have an impact upon the amount of heroin used, likelihood of injecting alone or likelihood of achieving abstinence. Hostel accommodation appeared to be linked with a culture of group injecting, which tends to increase the amount of heroin taken. Those with experience of rough sleeping described heroin use to ameliorate the uncomfortable realities of outdoor sleeping, although the overall amount used tended to be less due to having less money to spend on drugs. The prison setting was described as a setting where heroin use was reduced or stopped. Moving away from homelessness towards sustaining an independent tenancy appeared to be associated with a move towards solitary use. We postulate that a progression towards solitary use in a housed environment is one explanation for previous research findings showing the average age of heroin-related death to be increasing despite a decrease in the average age of initiation into heroin use. Hostel accommodation should form a priority setting for future health promotion interventions aimed to reduce heroin-related death. They appear to be linked with an increase in heroin use in the presence of a third party. Drug users sleeping rough in cold climates need to be made aware of the dangers of medicating with heroin to address problems of insomnia due to cold weather.
Drug Alcohol Rev 2005 May
PMID:Exploring the relationship between homelessness and risk factors for heroin-related death--a qualitative study. 1609 28

Cyamemazine is an anxiolytic antipsychotic, which reduces ethanol withdrawal symptoms. Here, we investigated if cyamemazine can be also effective as substitute drug to facilitate benzodiazepine withdrawal. A total of 168 patients treated with benzodiazepines for at least 3 months and with a <18 score in the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) were included in the study. Previous benzodiazepine treatment was withdrawn, and patients were randomized to a 4-week treatment with cyamemazine (25-50 mg q.d.) or bromazepam (3-6 mg q.d.), followed by 2 weeks of placebo. The primary efficacy variable was the maximal anxiety rebound as measured with the HARS during the 42 days of treatment. No statistically significant differences between treatment groups were found for the extent or incidence of rebound anxiety. Considering all dropout patients as withdrawal failures, after 6 months of follow-up, 56/84 patients in the cyamemazine group (66.7%) and 55/84 patients in the bromazepam group (65.5%) were successfully withdrawn. 28 patients in the cyamemazine group and 18 in the bromazepam group had an adverse event, including anxiety, insomnia, dry mouth and somnolence. No extra-pyramidal symptoms were reported. In conclusion, cyamemazine was comparable to bromazepam in ensuring successful benzodiazepine withdrawal and in controlling the acute benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Cyamemazine may be useful to facilitate benzodiazepine withdrawal in those patients where bromazepam substitution is not appropriate.
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PMID:Double-blind, comparative study of cyamemazine vs. bromazepam in the benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. 1624 18

Sleep disturbance has been implicated in cocaine use; however, the nature of the disturbance and its potential effects on cognition and learning are largely unknown. Twelve chronic cocaine users completed a 23-day inpatient study that included randomized, placebo-controlled, cocaine self-administration sessions. Six subjects received cocaine on each of days 4-6 and placebo on days 18-20, the other six received cocaine on each of days 18-20 and placebo on days 4-6. Sleep was measured by polysomnography, the Nightcap sleep monitor, and self-reported measures. Simple and vigilance reaction times were measured daily; a motor-sequence test of procedural learning was administered four times. Electrophysiological measures of sleep showed a different pattern than self-reported sleep across cocaine administration and abstinence: total sleep time and sleep latency were at their worst by 14-17 days of abstinence while self-reported sleep was at its best. Vigilance correlated positively with electrophysiologically measured sleep and negatively with self-reported measures. Similarly, sleep-dependent procedural learning correlated with total sleep time and was impaired at 17 days abstinence relative to 2- and 3-days abstinence. Slow-wave activity was lowest at days 4-9 of abstinence and highest during use and days 10-17 of abstinence. With sustained abstinence, chronic cocaine users exhibit decreased sleep, impaired vigilance and sleep-dependent procedural learning, and spectral activity suggestive of chronic insomnia. However, they report subjectively improving sleep, indicating they are unaware of this "occult" insomnia. These results suggest the possibility of homeostatic sleep drive dysregulation in chronic cocaine users.
Drug Alcohol Depend 2006 May 20
PMID:Sleep, sleep-dependent procedural learning and vigilance in chronic cocaine users: Evidence for occult insomnia. 1626 94

The study of alcohol dependence mechanisms has been aided by work in rodents, where regimens of intermittent chronic administration with repeated episodes of intoxication and withdrawal can be coupled with controlled timing of in vitro studies and the possibility of relating them to behavior. The chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) model in the rat has been found to be a good model of human alcohol dependence, showing persistent signs of withdrawal and self-administration. Studies in CIE rats suggest that plastic changes in GABA-mediated inhibition involving the GABAA receptor system may be responsible for the behavioral alterations. Here we summarize a combination of evidence that the alcoholic rat CIE model demonstrates changes in GABAA receptor subunit levels, in receptor localization, and in physiology and pharmacology, leading to alterations in behavior that contribute to the hyperexcitable alcohol withdrawal state (anxiety, insomnia, seizure susceptibility) and alcohol dependence.
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PMID:Plasticity of GABAA receptors in brains of rats treated with chronic intermittent ethanol. 1636 77

Virtually all psychiatric and substance use disorders are associated with sleep disruption. Studies indicate that psychiatric disorders are related closely to chronic insomnia and that psychoactive substances have acute and chronic effects on sleep architecture. Several aspects of sleep are compromised in individuals taking these substances, ranging from difficulty initiating sleep to difficulty maintaining sleep and hypersomnia. Sleep disturbances are apparent in person taking psychoactive drugs or alcohol and have been found to persist long after withdrawing from these drugs. For some, sleep disturbance can be so severe as to reverse treatment success and precipitate relapse to addiction or dependence. There is increasing evidence that primary insomnia without a concurrent psychiatric disorder is a risk factor for later developing substance use disorders. Patients were asked to complete two brief screening tools, the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test and Drug Abuse Screening Test, to examine substance use patterns among patients referred for a variety of sleep complaints in a sleep disorders clinic. We found that patients who demonstrated a variety of sleep complaints were more likely to have alcohol and drug problems than those in the general populations.
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PMID:Screening for substance use patterns among patients referred for a variety of sleep complaints. 1645 Jun 46

Benzodiazepines may result in dependence after relatively brief periods of prescription. This study reports the continued use of either temazepam or nitrazepam as a hypnotic 3-4 months after the provision of the drug as a discharge prescription following an acute hospital stay. Of 160 patients contacted by telephone (out of 275 given such a prescription on discharge), 68 (42.5%) were still taking the hypnotic when contacted and 23 (14%) of these had not previously used a hypnotic regularly prior to hospital admission. The risks of the use of benzodiazepine hypnotics, particularly in the elderly, are discussed and recommendations made to restrict in-patient hypnotic use to no more than 5 days at any one time. Patients should be counselled about the risks of the development of dependence and withdrawal insomnia. Discharge prescription of benzodiazepine hypnotics should not exceed three days duration and preferably be avoided altogether.
Drug Alcohol Rev 1992
PMID:Risk of benzodiazepine dependence resulting from hospital admission. 1684 Feb 67

The research work deals with the screening of ethanol and chloroform extracts of Pachyrrhizus erosus seeds for central nervous system (CNS) depressant activity. The Pachyrrhizus erosus seed is known to contain rotinoids, flavonoids and phenylfuranocoumarin derivatives as chemical components and is reported to have antifungal, antisecretory, insecticides, antibacterial and spasmolytic activity. Since seeds of Pachyrrhizus erosus is used as folk medicine in treatment of insomnia, we made an attempt to study its CNS depressant effect. The different activities studied were potentiation of pentobarbitone-induced sleep, test for locomotor activity, effect on muscle co-ordination, antiaggressive and antianxiety activities. The result of the study reflected that ethanol extract of the seeds (150 mg/kg, p.o) decreased locomotor activity, produced muscle relaxation and showed antianxiety and antiaggressive activity.
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PMID:Pharmacological evaluation of Pachyrrhizus erosus (L) seeds for central nervous system depressant activity. 1705 33

Fruits of Fructus Schisandrae have been used as medicine for the treatment for insomnia in traditional Chinese medicine. In the present research, the sedative and hypnotic activities of the ethanol fraction of Fructus Schisandrae fruit (SY3) were studied in mice and rats. In the open field test, SY3 (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) significantly inhibited the motor activity of mice compared to the normal. Results also showed SY3 potentiated pentobarbital-induced sleep by not only increasing the number of falling asleep and prolonging sleeping time but also reducing sleep latency. Furthermore, sleep-wake stages of rats were evaluated by polytrophic recording for 3 h after treatment. The results demonstrated that SY3 at doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg behaved remarkable action on sleep architecture of rats, which contain the increase of total sleeping time, the rate of deep slow wave sleep (SWS) and mean episode duration of deep SWS, and the decrease of the latency of deep SWS. Therefore, these results suggest that the ethanol fraction of Fructus Schisandrae fruit possesses potent sedative and hypnotic activity, which supported its therapeutic use for insomnia.
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PMID:Sedative and hypnotic activities of the ethanol fraction from Fructus Schisandrae in mice and rats. 1712 21


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