Physiologic dependence with ethanol

Even normal therapeutic doses of benzodiazepines may lead to physiologic dependence with withdrawal symptoms. These can include increases in REM sleep (REM rebound), increased anxiety, agitation, and insomnia. The severity of withdrawal symptoms depends on the dose used and on the concomitant use of other sedative-hypnotics, including ethanol. In general, withdrawal symptoms are more severe with the use of shorter-acting sedative-hypnotics. The answer is (E). 

A study of the ring-closure of catecholamines with acetaldehyde has revealed that the isoquinoline mixture formed contains substantial amounts of products formed by ring-closure onto the position ortho to the activating hydroxyl group (Scheme 20). The formation of physiologically active tetrahydroisoquinolines in this manner from acetaldehyde, the primary metabolite of ethanol, may account for various symptoms of ethanol intoxication, dependence, and withdrawal. 

Curcumin is not water-soluble, but it is soluble in ethanol or in dimethylsulfoxide. The degradation kinetics of curcumin under various pH conditions and the stability of curcumin in physiological matrices have been established. When curcumin was incubated in O. IM phosphate buffer and semm-free medium (pH 7.2 at 37°C), about 90% decomposed within 30min. A series of pH conditions ranging from 3 to 10 were tested, and the results showed that decomposition was pH-dependent and occurred faster at neutral-basic conditions. It is more stable in cell culture medium containing 10% fetal calf seram and in human blood. Less than 20% of curcumin decomposed within Ih, and after incubation for 8h, about 50% of curcumin still remained. Trans-6-(4 -hydroxy-3 -methoxyphenyl)-2,4-dioxo-5-hexenal was predicted to be the major degradation product, and vanillin, feralic acid, and feraloyl methane were identified as minor degradation products. The amount of vanillin increased with incubation time. 

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