Search

Background: In maintenance therapy for opioid addiction, to reduce the risk of buprenorphine (BUP) abuse, the combination of BUP and naloxone (NX) has been developed and is commercially available as suboxone (BUP/NX). This study was designed to compare addiction relapse frequency in patients receiving BUP and BUP/NX as maintenance therapy. Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial with cross over design, 100 opioid abusers were randomly assigned to two treatment groups to receive either BUP or BUP/NX. After three months, without a time-out period, subjects undertook treatment with the other drug. The subjects were screened weekly for urinary morphine. Results: In each of the study arms, when the patients were given BUP/NX, the number of relapses was significantly higher compared to when they received BUP (0.13±0.24 vs. 0.04±0.09, P = 0.001). If participants' age was taken into account, the number of relapses was significantly higher when BUP/NX was given in age groups of 31 to 40 years and over 50 years (P < 0.05). The length of addiction had also a significant impact on the number of relapses, i.e., patients with over 10-year history of addiction had higher number of relapses if they were given BUP/NX compared with BUP (P < 0.05). Conclusion: BUP seems to be more effective than BUP/NX in preventing addiction relapse in opioid abusers under maintenance treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mimicking the structure of extracellular matrix and electrical conductivity of myocardium are required to regenerate the functional cardiac tissue. In this study, Molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, nanosheets were synthesized and incorporated into nylon6 electrospun nanofibers in order to enhance the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the scaffolds. Then, the mouse embryonic cardiac cells, mECCs, were seeded on the scaffolds for in vitro studies. The MoS2 nanosheets were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Nylon/MoS2 nanofibers were characterized by SEM, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), water contact angle measurement, electrical conductivity, and tensile test. Furthermore, cytocompatibility of scaffolds was confirmed by 3‐(4, 5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, MTT, assay. SEM images showed more elongated morphology for mECCs attached to the nylon/MoS2 scaffold. Also, the Real‐Time PCR and immunostaining studies indicated the maturation and upregulation of cardiac functional genes including GATA‐4, c‐TnT, Nkx 2.5 and α‐MHC in the nylon/MoS2 scaffold in comparison to the bare nylon. Therefore, MoS2 reinforced nylon nanofibrous scaffolds can be considered as a suitable candidate in cardiac tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]