For the past few years, caffeine has been considered a relatively harmful teratogen for expecting mothers. However, caffeinated beverages are often the drug of choice for many expectant mothers. It can be estimated that a healthy amount of mothers consume at least a minimum of one cup per day. However, is this a healthy amount for an embryo?
The College of Family Physicians of Canada recently did a study to test the strength of the relationship between caffeine intake and adverse effects on pregnancy. Surprisingly, their findings did not mirror what previous findings have. According to the study there was a very weak relationship between an intake of under 300 mg of caffeine (~2 cups) and adverse pregnancy, fertility, or neurodevelopmental outcomes. The study stated that as long as an expecting mother keeps intake down to less than 2 cups a day the effects should not be that detrimental to the pregnancy and the newborn.
[SOURCE]
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Caffeine reduces myocardial blood flow during exercise
In lecture we learned that caffeine, developed by plants as
a natural pesticide, is the most commonly used psychoactive drug in the world,
with over 90% of adults in North America consuming it daily. On average, everyone in the world consumes
one caffeinated beverage per day. The
mechanism of action by which caffeine acts is an inhibition of the inhibitory
neurotransmitter adenosine. As the
popularity of caffeinated beverages such as energy drinks has increased in the
past decade, sudden cardiac death has been reported among teenagers and young
athletes who have consumed these products.
This is especially in conjunction with exercising, and this article
summarizes the contemporary understanding related to caffeine consumption and
reduced exercise coronary blood flow. It
discovered that a dose of caffeine between 200 and 300 mg taken orally at rest
has no acute detrimental effect on myocardial blood flow, but when exercising,
patients have a significantly reduced coronary vasodilatation. This could subsequently lead to possible
complications including myocardial ischemia, spasm, and arrythmia, especially
in those who do not drink caffeine regularly or are exercising at higher altitudes. In conclusion, the article reads that it is
likely that caffeine antagonizes the coronary artery vasodilator effects
medicated by the inhibition of adenosine receptors. Additional research needs to be conducted in
order to further understand the underlying mechanisms of caffeine on the body,
especially because this is the most widely used psychoactive drug in modern
times. It is also interesting to note
that many collegiate students consume caffeine in conjunction with their
protein supplements in order to have a more effective workout. The caffeine component may now be seen as deleterious to one's potential to gain
strength without physiological damage.
Link to article:
http://ac.els-cdn.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/S0002934313001897/1-s2.0-S0002934313001897-main.pdf?_tid=c8b116d4-dc7f-11e2-a460-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1372045396_fc4690da7ceba9264b5d7f0a8b040e95
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/science/article/pii/S0002934313001897#
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/pubmed/23764265
Illicit Use of Opioids Among Young Users
Illegal
use of pharmaceutical drugs has been identified as one of the fastest
growing forms of drug abuse in the U.S., with pain relievers showing
the highest prevalence rates of non-medical use among all other
therapeutic classes of prescription drugs (SAMHSA,
2006).
The
leading motive for non medical opioid use was "to relax or
relieve tension"
Research
I found revealed evidence of a growing epidemic of opioid misuse
among teenagers. Sub groups of youths that were at particularly high
risk include females, blacks, those of lower socio-economic status,
and those who hold favorable attitudes toward illicit drugs, have
detached parents, or have friends who use illicit drugs. Respondents
own use of other illicit drugs is the strongest factor of their non
medical use of prescription opioids.
Non medical
use of prescription opioids is a recurrent epidemic and valuable
lessons from past epidemics of this nature can be learned if data is
studied. Prevention campaigns should be more common and target groups
at risk for substance abuse and focus on improving family bonds and
drug resistance skills.
Source:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2692760/
A prospective study of neurocognitive changes 15 years after chronic inhalant abuse.
The recreational inhalation of volatile hydrocarbons, more
commonly known as inhalant abuse, occurs frequently in many disadvantaged
subpopulations. The inhalation of leaded patrol, containing tetraethyl lead,
causes initial euphoria and sedation but can lead to lack of coordination, and
coma with increased doses. Leaded patrol overdoses can cause encephalopathy; a
neurological syndrome that includes tremors, ataxia, eye movement abnormality,
and seizures. A previous study
showed that central nervous system disruption occurring from the inhalant abuse
showed a substantial recovery after two years of abstinence. This study, specifically, involved two
remote Aboriginal communities from Arnhem Land, Australia. The participants included 27 healthy
controls, 60 ex-chronic inhalant abusers, and 17 with a history of
encephalopathy. This study was the first to demonstrate that in the absence of
encephalopathy, specific cognitive and neurological impairments, caused by
inhalant abuse, are completely reversible after 15 years of abstinence,
although serious neurological deficits may last longer or become permanent. The
persistence of the deficits is completely related to the initial blood lead levels
and the duration and severity of the abuse. This study showed that at 2 years of abstinence, blood lead
was reduced but remained elevated. After 15 years, the blood lead and other
performance scores were all equivalent to those of the healthy control groups.
For the group with a history of encephalopathy, the blood lead levels declined
over the course of the 15 years, but not as drastically as the other test
groups.
Source:
Addiction. 2013 Jun;108(6):1107-14. doi:
10.1111/add.12124. Epub 2013 Mar 13.
A prospective study of
neurocognitive changes 15 years after chronic inhalant abuse.
Cairney S, O' Connor N, Dingwall KM, Maruff P, Shafiq-Antonacci R, Currie J, Currie BJ.
Source
Menzies School of
Health Research, Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University,
Darwin, NT, Australia; Flinders University and Northern Territory Clinical
School, Darwin, NT, Australia.
Life AfterStraightedge Subculture
It’s very easy for people with anti-drug agendas to a voice
in the discussion that is both heard and respected. Drugs do come with some nasty side effects:
addiction, overdoses, health problems, and societal damage just to name a
few. This makes it easy for scientific
studies and other projects to be conducted which examine why people use drugs
and what mechanisms, biological and psychological, make them work. However, little research is done into what
causes vehement, even irrational, reactions against drug use and drug
users.
Why is it that some people (such as
Bill O’Reilly) will dismiss all other viewpoints but abstinence from drugs with
a heavy hand? Jason Torkelson sets out
to indirectly answer this question and others like it in his 2010 article “Life
After Straightedge Subculture.” In his
study, Torkelson interviewed twenty former straightedgers (people who refuse to
imbibe any intoxicants while using that abstinence as a social identity) to
find out why they eventually “broke edge” and began using drugs and/or
alcohol.
The interviews yielded several
consistent results. First, nearly all of
the research participants cited becoming straightedge as a way to rebel against
what they saw as mainstream youth culture; that being intoxication. Second, many also enjoyed the sense of
discipline that came with the straightedge lifestyle. Third, most of those interviewed also left
the lifestyle after realizing that many of the factors they found unsavory
about drug use, especially violence, were just as prevalent in the straightedge
movement.
Torkelson’s results lead to further
questions. How might factors like a
sense of discipline and a rejection of perceived “mainstream” culture affect
how those with power might view drug use?
From Hamilton Wright to Richard Nixon how have the personal psyches of
lawmakers influenced the drug laws now on the books?
Electronic Cigarettes
The article I chose for this week’s blog post is one that
discusses non-cigarette forms of tobacco and their effects on the lungs. For this post, I will specifically be
focusing on electronic cigarettes. In
2007, the electronic cigarette was introduced in the United States. They were produced and marketed to offer
smokers a tobacco free alternative.
Instead of tobacco, electronic cigarettes contain cartridges of liquid
nicotine. The battery powered cigarette
devices heat up the liquid nicotine and produces a vapor, much like that of a
weed vaporizer. The idea is that the
user is avoiding harmful smoke produced from burning tobacco; however, there
have not been enough studies done on the product for health experts and
regulatory agencies to be certain it is as safe as it seems. The biggest controversy surrounding this
matter seems to be the regulation. While
there are many companies in the United States distributing electronic
cigarettes, they often do not make specific safety claims about their products. They emphasize rather, the benefits of being
an alternative to tobacco. There is a
concern that manufacturers may not be adequately disclosing all of the chemical
ingredients in their products. In
addition, an electronic cigarette may contain as much as or more nicotine than
a regular cigarette. Nevertheless, the
FDA regulates them as nicotine delivery devices, the same way they regulate
normal tobacco-containing cigarettes. Ultimately,
I believe tighter
regulations must be made for electronic cigarettes. Until proper studies for long and short term
use have been made, these devices should be deemed illegal.
http://link.springer.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12016-013-8372-0.pdf
Effects of Caffeine Consumption by Women and Men on the Outcome of In Vitro Fertilization
In Choi et al.’s
“Effects of Caffeine Consumption by Women and Men on the Outcome of In
Vitro Fertilization” article, he reports on the findings of the study performed
on couples undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. Previously experimental
results were varied, with assumptions that there may exist several biological
factors for caffeine to affect conception, some including caffeine may have
changes in ovarian functions through the alteration in levels of hormones. Choi’s
study was performed through survey questions about the patient’s age, alcohol,
tobacco, and caffeine use, which ultimately may be proven to be biased and
cause a discrepancy in the results. Choi went on to measure the patient’s
consumption of coffee in category depending on the amount in mg per week in
order to see any correlation between the consumption and the in vitro
fertilization. Ultimately, Choi’s study found that there was no correlation in
fact between the consumption of caffeine by men and women and the In Vitro
fertilization results. In conclusion, Choi et al. acknowledge some of the
errors and bias that may have been factors in their analysis and conclusion of
the study. Some of these errors include the inaccuracies in self-reporting, the
lifestyle factor of each patient, the difficulty faced in quantifying the exact
amount of caffeine in caffeinated beverages, etc. While these limitations are
present, there still appears to be no significant, major effect on the outcome
of In Vitro fertilization.
Source: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/jcr.2011.0001
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