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The authors critically reviewed the literature on benzodiazepine use among alcoholics, psychiatric patients, and the general population to determine whether alcoholics have a greater liability for benzodiazepine abuse. Data suggest that the prevalence of benzodiazepine use among alcoholics is greater than in the general population but comparable to the prevalence in psychiatric patients. The liability for abuse may also be greater for alcoholics, but the substantial methodologic deficiencies of existing studies preclude such a conclusion. Given the frequency of anxiety disorders and benzodiazepine use among alcoholics, their potential for benzodiazepine abuse is an important issue. The authors discuss clinical guidelines and strategies for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma jet devices that use a helium gas flow mixed with a small percentage of argon have been shown to operate with a larger discharge current and enhanced production of the Ar(1s5) metastable state, particularly in the discharge afterglow. In this experiment, time-resolved quantitative measurements of He(23S1) and Ar(1s5) metastable species were combined with current and spectrally resolved emission measurements to elucidate the role of Penning ionization in a helium plasma jet with a variable argon admixture. The plasma jet was enclosed in a glass chamber through which a flowing nitrogen background was maintained at 600 Torr. At 3%-5% Ar admixture, we observed a ∼50% increase in the peak circuit current and streamer velocity relative to a pure helium plasma jet for the same applied voltage. The streamer initiation delay also decreased by ∼20%. Penning ionization of ground-state argon was found to be the dominant quenching pathway for He(23S1) up to 2% Ar and was directly correlated with a sharp increase in both the circuit current and afterglow production of Ar(1s5) for Ar admixtures up to 1%, but not necessarily with the streamer velocity, which increased more gradually with Ar concentration. Ar(1s5) was produced in the afterglow through recombination of Ar+ and dissociative recombination of Ar2+ as the local mean electron energy decreased in the plasma channel behind the streamer head. The discharge current and argon metastable enhancement are contingent on the rapid production of He(23S1) near the streamer head, >5×1012 cm-3 in 30 ns under the conditions of this experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Here we aimed to characterize clinical outcomes in those receiving treatment at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) methadone maintenance treatment program (MMT) during the COVID 19 pandemic in which SAMSHA regulations for MMTs were changed to provide a greater number of methadone allotments and decreased clinic-visit frequency., Methods: We report results of a single-site, pre-post cohort study of urine drug screen data 3 months before and after an increase in allotments of take-home medication from the methadone clinic. One hundred twenty-nine patients met inclusion criteria for this study. The study was reviewed by the NYHHS IRB committee and granted final approval by the Research and Development Committee., Results: The sample was predominately male, average age 66years and average years in most recent treatment is 4.1 years. No statistical significance was found between period 1 and period 2 in the positive test detection for nonprescribed opiates, methadone and illicit substances ( P  > .05), number of new medical illnesses or overdoses. We controlled for participant age, substance use disorder diagnosis, psychiatric disorder diagnosis, and number of years in treatment., Discussion/conclusions: The results of the study illustrate the relative safety of the changes made at this particular MMT during the pandemic. Additionally, there was continued adherence to methadone treatment with minimal change in illicit substance use during period 1 and period 2., Scientific Significance: To these authors' knowledge this paper is one of the first to examine clinical outcomes in those with opioid addiction prescribed methadone from MMTs during the COVID 19 pandemic., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2022.)