Suchergebnisse

This handbook explores the biological basis of drug and alcohol use, considering a wide scope of topics from the scientific determination of substance misuse, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, mechanisms of intoxication, overdose and death; as well as new approaches and controversies such as new types of addictions, decriminalisation, cultural influences and new information on neurobiology

A jellyfish surrounds a plastic fragment, merging the synthetic material with its body; a water agency poster warns of dangerous plastic bottle 'fish' in the Mediterranean; marine organisms take shelter on and under synthetic materials. These are the denizens of a growing realm marine ecologists call the 'plastisphere', where sea life and plastics meet. Building upon multispecies ethnography, science and technology studies interrogations of nature/culture divides and the practical work of classification, this article explores the indeterminacy – the very plasticity – of the category of 'species' as it is engaged in seriousness and irony, with living and nonliving bodies. First, I draw on participant observation at a nonprofit marine institute laboratory in California to trace the travels of plastic-creatures through attempts to disentangle them in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Here volunteers sort tiny plastic bits from animal ones under the microscope, enacting material boundaries as they decide what gets counted as life (not plastic) and what does not (plastic). Second, I follow movements of plastic-creatures through public education campaigns, paying particular attention to assumptions about belonging and agency enacted with assumptions about whether and when plastic-species should or should not meet. I argue that the 'danger' of plastic relationships lurks not in associations but in the very categories used to know and live with forms of plastic and forms of life, in the kinds of belonging that emerge with kinds of materials, and in the failure to recognize the impossibility of their separation.

In global oceans, circulating current systems called gyres concentrate floating plastic waste into garbage patches far from land. This dissertation describes how the Great Pacific Garbage Patch accumulating between California and Japan comes to matter as an environmental problem and public concern at the turn of the 21st century. It draws on participant observation, interviews, historical and textual analysis to "follow" plastic as it circulates - with water, images, people, knowledge and marine life - from the ocean, through laboratories and beyond. By tracing the intersecting trajectories of multiple materials, I take a problem often blamed on activist exaggeration or media misrepresentation and show how the garbage patch emerges with a diversity of collective practices. The production and sharing of knowledge not only shapes the garbage patch, but also the kinds of solutions and care that are possible in return. For some, the garbage patch becomes a solid 'trash island' twice the size of Texas in need of cleanup; for others, a whole new realm of inseparable associations between synthetics and life called the plastisphere. Plastic, however, continues to escape from these attempts to measure, know, cleanup and otherwise control it, challenging the cultural and political foundations of science and ecology. I argue that caring for the ocean requires responding to plastic in all its natural-cultural relationships, as it transforms humans and environments alike

The initial assessment and subsequent monitoring of compliance in methadone treatment programmes are excessively reliant on the accuracy of self-report from opiate addicts themselves. Given the central position of methadone treatment in the therapeutic options currently available and with the increasing number of opiate addicts requiring treatment, improved methods of judging optimal methadone treatment are required. This paper explores the possible future options for assessing the adequacy of methadone prescribing from the analysis of methadone levels in urine, blood, hair and saliva. The particular promise of plasma therapeutic drug monitoring for methadone is explored, accompanied by an account of the state of the art at the time of writing.

Urinalysis : the detection of common drugs in urine / Michael David Osselton -- Point-of-care/collection testing : application to drugs of misuse testing / Claire George and Alan Pang -- Analytical advances in drug detection : human sports drug testing / D.A. Cowan -- Analytical overview of drug detection : civil aviation / Nigel P. Dowdall -- Detection of misused drugs : natural and synthetic cathinones / Anders Helander -- Detection of misused drugs : psychoactive piperazines / L.J. Schep, H.A. Poulsen and P. Gee -- Dried blood spots for testing drugs of misuse / R. Quraishi, R. Jain and A. Ambekar -- Drug testing in exhaled breath / Markus R. Meyer and Olof Beck -- DNA/RNA aptamers for illicit drug molecules / M. C. Parkin and N. Frascione -- Latent fingerprints for drug screening / Susan van der Heide and David A. Russell -- Microneedle patches for caffeine detection and quantification / Ester Caffarel-Salvador, Aaaron John Brady and Ryan F. Donnelly -- Detection of a single drug exposure in hair / Pascal Kintz -- Ethanol analysis in blood, breath and urine : interpreting the results / Alan Wayne Jones -- 'Ecstasy' tablets : batch matching for forensic drug intelligence purposes in Malta / Mario Mifsud, Sue Jickells, Janet Mifsud and Kim Wolff -- The usefulness of metabolites in the interpretation of drug test results / Michael Scott-Ham -- The usefulness of metabolic ratios in the interpretation of steroid misuse / A.D. Brailsford -- Neurohypophyseal hormones and drugs of misuse / Jacinta L. Johnson, Michaela E. Johnson and Femke Buisman-Pijlman

With contributions from leading international academics across the social sciences, this accessible takes a critical look at the key contemporary issues and debates in the field. The 39 chapters are divided into three parts: Part I Central Social Science Theories Drug and Alcohol Studies Part II Pillars in Social Science Drug and Alcohol Studies Part III Controversies and New Approaches in Social Science Drug and Alcohol Studies This Handbook is an excellent reference text for the growing number of academics, students, scientists and practitioners in the drug and alcohol studies community.

From drought to deluge, climate extremes are mobilizing humanities scholars to reimagine water discourse, which has until now largely focused on human power over water. This volume unites preeminent and emerging voices across humanistic disciplines to develop a new discourse called the hydrohumanities, dedicated to examining water-human-power relationships.;Organized into three themes in water studies—agency, fluid identities, and cultural currencies—Hydrohumanities exemplifies how interdisciplinary approaches can transform water conversations. Part One explores the properties of water and the ways water challenges human plans for control. Part Two explores how water (or its absence) shapes human collective and individual identities. Part Three engages notions of value and circulation to think about how water has been employed for local, national, and international gains. This volume shows how humanities scholarship has world-changing potential to achieve more just water futures.;"This fascinating essay collection breaks new ground with its interdisciplinary insights into the relations between water and human societies." MATTHEW GANDY, author of The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination;"Water's power, purpose, and meaning cannot be contained by any one scholarly discipline. Understanding the value of water in a time of climate catastrophe demands more-than-human humanities, and Hydrohumanities answers this call." ASTRIDA NIEMANIS, author of Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology