Isy Pelc

Interference with withdrawal signs of naloxone-induced opiate withdrawal under anesthesia is anesthetic-specific in opiate-dependent rats.

We hypothesized that interference of opiate antagonist-precipitated withdrawal signs under anesthesia is anesthetic-specific. Three groups of morphine-dependent rats were compared in different experimental conditions using a protocol of rapid withdrawal induction by an antagonist under anesthesia. We observed that ketamine and midazolam have different effects on the expression of withdrawal. This brings specific insights into the pharmacological basis of therapy with induction of opiate antagonist.

An Atypical Neuropsychological Profile of a Korsakoff Syndrome Patient throughout the Follow-Up

The basis of amnesia in alcoholic Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) has been generally associated with diencephalic lesions and more specifically with lesions of the anterior thalamic nuclei. These brain structures are considered to be involved in encoding/consolidation processes of episodic memory. However, frontal lobe damage responsible for executive function deficits has also been documented. The present report details the nature and extent of amnesia in an alcoholic patients with WKS and which appears to be mainly due to frontal lobe (executive) deficits.

Original strategies of screening, evaluation, and care of adolescent substance abuse

This article presents the proceedings of a symposium held at the meeting of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism in Mannheim, Germany, in October 2004. The aim of this symposium was to discuss new and interesting strategies of screening, evaluation and care of adolescent substance abuse developed in various countries. Our speakers have had to explain these strategies and to detail and focus on the more original tools of diagnosis or way of care used in their country. This symposium described two ways for screening and assessment (one developed in France [MR, LK] and the other in Switzerland [LC]) and made the point about questionnaires and biomarkers for alcohol problems in adolescents (JPA). The symposium was concluded by the presentation of a cannabis clinic (ES, JP).