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Fulltext The effectiveness of the community reinforcement approach (CRA) in the context of quality of life and happiness among people using drugs

Khalid MT, Khalily MT, Saleem T, Saeed F, Shoib S

Front Public Health, 2024;12:1229262.
PMID: 38504677 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1229262

INTRODUCTION: The Community Reinforcement Approach is an evidence-based treatment modality for alcohol and drug addiction treatment with proven efficacy and cost-effectiveness. The present study investigated the effectiveness of the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) in the context of quality of life among drug addicts.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 60 inpatient substance abusers post detoxification in Fountain House, Lahore, Pakistan, participated in this study. Fountain House was selected as the Minnesota model is primarily used there. Therefore, a new treatment approach was introduced to investigate its effectiveness for individuals with substance abuse. A randomized 12-week trial was conducted as a substance use disorders (SUDs) treatment program. Persons with SUD (i.e., identified patients) enrolled in a residential treatment program were randomized into the integrated model of the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) and traditional Minnesota model treatment (n = 30), and traditional Minnesota model treatment only (TMM; n = 30). All the participants in the experimental group attended the group therapy sessions and other activities in the facility in addition to the treatment conditions. The participants attended the individual therapeutic sessions, which were conducted according to the CRA guidelines used in the experimental group. In this study, each individual in the CRA treatment group received 12 one-to-one sessions ranging from 45 min to 1 h. The WHOQOL-BREF scale and Happiness Scale (1) were used for data collection.
RESULT: The results showed a significant increase in the quality of life of participants in the treatment group with CRA compared with the control group with TMM. The findings also indicated that the individuals in the treatment group with CRA had improved levels of happiness compared with individuals with TMM.
DISCUSSION: The CRA is an effective and adaptable treatment approach that works well in combination with other treatment approaches. The proven efficacy, compatibility, and cost-effectiveness distinguish it from other treatment methods.
IMPLICATIONS: The CRA should be adapted, assessed, and evaluated further, especially in Pakistan, where there is a pressing need to adopt an effective treatment strategy for addiction problems.
Fulltext Reactive oxygen species mediated apoptotic death of colon cancer cells: therapeutic potential of plant derived alkaloids

Nelson VK, Nuli MV, Mastanaiah J, Saleem T S M, Birudala G, Jamous YF, et al.

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne), 2023;14:1201198.
PMID: 37560308 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1201198

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most deaths causing diseases worldwide. Several risk factors including hormones like insulin and insulin like growth factors (e.g., IGF-1) have been considered responsible for growth and progression of colon cancer. Though there is a huge advancement in the available screening as well as treatment techniques for CRC. There is no significant decrease in the mortality of cancer patients. Moreover, the current treatment approaches for CRC are associated with serious challenges like drug resistance and cancer re-growth. Given the severity of the disease, there is an urgent need for novel therapeutic agents with ideal characteristics. Several pieces of evidence suggested that natural products, specifically medicinal plants, and derived phytochemicals may serve as potential sources for novel drug discovery for various diseases including cancer. On the other hand, cancer cells like colon cancer require a high basal level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to maintain its own cellular functions. However, excess production of intracellular ROS leads to cancer cell death via disturbing cellular redox homeostasis. Therefore, medicinal plants and derived phytocompounds that can enhance the intracellular ROS and induce apoptotic cell death in cancer cells via modulating various molecular targets including IGF-1 could be potential therapeutic agents. Alkaloids form a major class of such phytoconstituents that can play a key role in cancer prevention. Moreover, several preclinical and clinical studies have also evidenced that these compounds show potent anti-colon cancer effects and exhibit negligible toxicity towards the normal cells. Hence, the present evidence-based study aimed to provide an update on various alkaloids that have been reported to induce ROS-mediated apoptosis in colon cancer cells via targeting various cellular components including hormones and growth factors, which play a role in metastasis, angiogenesis, proliferation, and invasion. This study also provides an individual account on each such alkaloid that underwent clinical trials either alone or in combination with other clinical drugs. In addition, various classes of phytochemicals that induce ROS-mediated cell death in different kinds of cancers including colon cancer are discussed.

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